Survey: Over half UK adults sharing SVoD logins
August 23, 2022
By Colin Mann
A survey commissioned by publisher LADbible Group has revealed over half (56 per cent) of 18–44-year-olds in the UK – around 11.8 million people – currently use someone else’s login details to access a streaming service.
In a report that highlights the challenges that streaming services face to attract paying subscribers in the face of the growing cost of living crisis, the problem of streamers in convincing younger viewers to play for content in the future appears even bigger. Over 65 per cent of Gen Z viewers (18–24-year-olds) surveyed admit they use someone else’s streaming service login details and are the generation most likely to do so (2.4x more than 35–44-year-olds).
The LADbible Group TV Report, commissioned to coincide with the ‘Digital Media Killed the TV Guide’ panel at the Edinburgh TV Festival, reveals the changing nature of TV viewing habits as traditional TV networks and streaming platforms battle it out for UK viewers’ attention against a backdrop of digital disruption, rocketing interest rates and apathy surrounding TV licence fees. Key findings include:
Appetite for TV content
Contrary to some recent surveys, watching any form of TV content (live/streamed – 44 per cent) is considered second only to music (75 per cent) in terms of most essential activities in the lives of 18 – 24-year-olds, followed by social media use (37 per cent). 18–24-year-olds surveyed spend an average of 2.9 hours per day watching some form of TV content with social media taking up 3.5 hours.
Public service broadcasting
Nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of 25–44-year-olds do not feel the TV Licence fee represents good value for money – whilst 70 per cent of Gen Z audience surveyed do not know or cannot identify the correct price of a current regular UK TV licence.
Following its return to screens in February, the BBC’s youth-focused channel BBC Three has a long way to go in creating stand-out content for younger audiences as nearly two thirds (63 per cent) were unable to name a show on the channel.
However, the BBC’s entertainment is the genre that those surveyed felt was most valuable to them – nearly double that of sports content – perhaps reflecting the scarcity of football in the corporation’s schedule. And news was the third most valued content genre, whilst 40 per cent of 25–34-year-olds cited Facebook as the place they get their news.
Another hot topic surveyed was the issue of Channel 4 privatisation and the understanding of the network’s ownership was very mixed. The majority of those surveyed claimed they don’t know who owns Channel 4 (37 per cent). Only 13 per cent identified that it is publicly owned by the government, whilst 29 per cent believe it is privately owned, and the remaining 21 per cent consider it part privately and publicly owned.
Returning TV blockbusters
Anticipation is running equally high for the Autumn return of two blockbuster TV franchises to UK screens. Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon (26 per cent) and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (27 per cent) are running nearly neck and neck as the most-anticipated new TV series, with the latter show just edging ahead with 18–24-year-olds (25 per cent) versus the Game of Thrones prequel (19 per cent).
However, the anticipation for the recently announced return of classic reality show Big Brother perhaps surprisingly drops with older generations more familiar with it. Gen Z audiences are most looking forward to it (30 per cent) whilst 25-34s (26 per cent) and 35-44s (21 per cent) seem less enamoured.
Overwhelming choice
The survey also demonstrates the seemingly endless choice of where to watch content with 57 per cent of 35–44-year-olds feeling overwhelmed by the number of streaming services and younger viewers also feeling the same (42 per cent of 18–24-year-olds and 55 per cent of 24-34s).
And the sheer amount of content to view is also eliciting a similar reaction with 44 per cent of 18–24-year-olds overwhelmed by the amount of tv content available to view (40 per cent of 25–34-year-olds and 38 per cent 35 – 44-year-olds surveyed agree).
And this overwhelming choice, along with the plethora of services available had led to many wasted hours searching for video content. In fact, the average UK adult spends over four days a year searching for what to watch.
“Our survey produced a fascinating and sometimes surprising mix of results,” commented Anna-Lee Bridgstock, Director of Data, Intelligence and Planning at LADbible Group. “We found reports the cite the end of young people’s interest in watching TV content to be exaggerated. There is a huge appetite for content but the sheer amount of TV shows and number of services to watch them on is leading to a huge amount of time endlessly searching for what to watch. The cost-of-living crisis also poses a huge challenge for subscription services in convincing viewers to subscribe to paid for services and password sharing has become commonplace.”