2023 Insights - Full Year

United Kingdom television and streaming market share analysis 2022: BBC, ITV, Netflix, HBO and Channel 4. Presented below is the section for the United Kingdom from The Global Television Demand Report. Enjoy!

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United Kingdom genre and subgenre preferences

• Game shows found particular success in the UK where they accounted for 5.9% of demand for all shows. This was the highest share of demand for the genre in this report and higher than the global share ofdemand for game shows (3.5%).
• British audiences were the least receptive to action content of markets in this report. Only 24.8% of demand for shows in the UK was for an action series, the smallest share of demand for the action genre inthis report and below the global share of demand for action (30.4%).
• The documentary genre was successful in the UK where it accounted for 13.8% of demand for all series in 2023. This is significantly above the global share of demand for documentaries (8.3%).

• Demand for nature content in the UK is higher than in other markets. These series made up 1.7% of demand here, which is higher than in any other market in this report.
• The panel-game subgenre stood out in the UK. While these shows only account for 0.2% of titles, they made up nearly 1% of demand in the UK which is higher than in any other market in this report.
• Travel content was oversaturated in most markets (i.e. these shows made up a higher share of titles than their share of demand). However, relatively high demand in the UK put this subgenre’s share of demand on par with its share of titles.

United Kingdom originals share of demand and demand distribution

• 16.7% of demand for series in the UK was for a BBC show. This was the only market in this report where BBC took the top spot, but more impressively, no other channel or platform came close to having this large of a market share in any of the markets we covered.
• Netflix original content made up a smaller share of demand in the UK than in any other market in this report, with a 7.0% share of demand in 2023.
• Despite relatively weaker demand for Netflix content in the UK, it still managed to surpass ITV as the platform with the second largest demand share. ITV content accounted for 6.9% of demand in the UK which is down from 7.1% in 2022.

• The global hit, Doctor Who, achieved its highest rank in its home market where it was the most in-demandshow of 2023 with 37.9 times the average series demand.
• Good Omens returned for its second season after premiering in 2019. A long break has not dampened enthusiasm for this show in the UK where it ranked higher than in any other market and had over 20 times the average series demand for the year.
• Happy Valley, a British police procedural, released new episodes for the first time since 2016 and had 13 times the average series demand for the year.

Top series in the United Kingdom

Here are the top 20 most in-demand series in 2023 in the United Kingdom across all platforms:

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2022 Insights - Full Year

United Kingdom television and streaming market share analysis 2022: BBC, ITV, Netflix, HBO and Channel 4. Presented below is the section for the United Kingdom from The Global Television Demand Report. Enjoy!

Please subscribe to DEMAND360^LITE to access the latest version of The Global Television Demand Report and to discover the latest content analytics and trends for TV series on cable, broadcast, OTT and SVOD streaming platforms around the world.

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United Kingdom genre and subgenre preferences

• British audiences had the largest share of demand for the comedy genre in this report. The UK’s 16.0% share of demand for this genre was above the global share (13.8%).
• The UK has consistently been one of the most documentary-loving markets. Its 8.3% share of demand for the genre was the largest in this report and well above the global average (5.2%).
• British audiences gave a notably small share of demand to animated content. The 7.6% share in this market was the smallest in this report and below the global share of demand for animation (12.4%).

• The United Kingdom was one of five markets in this report where crime drama was the most in-demand subgenre of 2022. The others were Australia, Italy, Canada, and Spain.
• Comedy drama ranked as the third most in-demand subgenre in the UK in 2022. This was the highest rank the subgenre reached in this report.
• Low demand in the UK for animated content is also apparent when looking at the top subgenres. Japanese animation ranked as the fifth most in-demand subgenre, the lowest rank for this subgenre in this report.

United Kingdom originals demand share and demand distribution

• Content from BBC is hugely popular in its home market. 17.2% of demand for series in the UK was for a BBC show. This was the only market in this report where BBC took the top spot, but more impressively, no other channel or platform came close to having this large of a market share in any of the markets we covered.
• Not only is local content from the BBC succeeding in the UK, shows from ITV made up a 7.1% share of demand for all shows in the UK–a share equal to the demand for all Netflix originals in 2022.
• Original content from Disney branded channels and platforms made up a 3.0% share of demand in the UK in 2022, its lowest share across markets in this report.

• The global hit, Doctor Who, achieved its highest rank in its home market where it was the second most in-demand show of 2022. This was the most in-demand local production in the UK for the year.
• Two reality series from ITV, Britain’s Got Talent and Love Island UK both ranked among the top twenty most in-demand shows in the UK and helped contribute to ITV’s second largest share of demand in its home market.
• Derry Girls, from Channel 4, wrapped up its three season run in 2022 and had 16.1 times the average series demand for the year in the UK.

Top series in the United Kingdom

Here are the top 20 most in-demand series in 2022 in the United Kingdom across all platforms:

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2022 Insights - Q1

The state of streaming and TV in the United Kingdom Q1 2022: BBC, ITV, Netflix, HBO and CBS: Wondering who is winning in the streaming wars in the United Kingdom in Q1, 2022? Presented below is the section for the United Kingdom from The Global Demand Report. Enjoy!

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United Kingdom Genre and Subgenre Preferences for Series

• Comedy, documentary and sports content had the largest shares of demand in the UK in Q1 2022 (16.4%, 8.2% and 1.6%, respectively) of markets in this report.
• Animation was particularly unpopular in the UK in this quarter. UK audiences gave the genre its lowest share of demand (6.9%) in this report.
• UK audiences gave a large share of demand to reality content in Q1 2022. The 12.5% share of demand for this genre was higher than its global share of demand (10.2%).

• Crime drama ranked as the most in-demand subgenre in the UK for the quarter. It ranked as the top three subgenre in every market in this report, except for Venezuela.
• As the 3rd most in-demand subgenre this quarter, comedy drama ranked higher in the UK than in any other market in this report.
• As the 5th most in-demand subgenre in the quarter, Japanese anime ranked lower in the United Kingdom than any other market in this country

United Kingdom Originals Share of Demand and Demand Distribution

• Local player BBC made up the largest share of demand in the UK in Q1 2022. The 17.3% demand share was more than four times higher than the global share of demand for the platform’s content (3.9%).
• Cartoon Network had very low shares of demand (< 4%) in this report, but it was especially unpopular in the UK where it presented its lowest demand share in the UK (1.5%).
• Disney also had a hard time grabbing the attention of British audiences–the platform had its lowest share of demand in the UK (2.9%) in this report.

• Doctor Who was the most in-demand show in the UK in Q1 2022. The drama from BBC One had 29.96 times the average series demand in the quarter and it ranked higher in the UK than any other market covered in this report.
• Formula 1, from SkySports, was the most in-demand sports title in the UK this quarter when it had 24.14 times the average series demand.
• RuPaul’s Drag Race, from VH1, was the highest ranked reality series in the UK with 19.56 times the average series demand.

Top Series in the United Kingdom

Here are the top 20 most in-demand series in Q1 2022 across all platforms and networks in the United Kingdom:

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2021 Insights - Full Year

The leading SVOD platforms in the United Kingdom 2021: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV+ and more. Presented below is the section for the United Kingdom from The Global Television Demand Report. Enjoy!

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United Kingdom digital original genre and subgenre preferences

• In this report, the UK had the second highest demand share for documentary digital originals with 7.2%. This is an increase from its 6.3% share in 2020.
• The UK is among the most receptive markets for horror content. Horror’s 2.8% demand share here is greater than the US but behind the most horror-loving markets, Brazil and Canada.
• The share of demand for animated digital originals in the UK (6.0%) was the third smallest in this report and below the global share of demand for the genre (6.2%).

• Among European markets in this report, the UK was the only one where superhero series outranked sci-fidrama as the most in-demand subgenre of the year. It just barely achieved this in the UK however-demand for sci-fi drama was only 1% lower than superhero series in 2021.
• Historical dramas succeeded in the UK this year. It achieved its highest rank as the 7th most in-demand subgenre in the UK, Italy, and France.
• The UK was one of four markets in this report where cartoon ranked in the ten most in-demand subgenres of 2021.

United Kingdom platform demand share and digital originals demand distribution

• The United Kingdom was one of four markets in this report where Amazon Prime Video had a greater than 10% share of demand for its original series in 2021.
• Hulu’s 8% share of demand in the UK was well above its global share of demand (5.8%) but it shrank noticeably at the end of the year, ending at 7.8% in December.
• Apple TV+ had a successful year in the UK with a 7.9% share of digital original demand for the year. In fact, in October it reached a 9.8% share of demand putting it behind only Netflix.

• The Mandalorian is the most in-demand digital original series in the United Kingdom for 2021. It had 25.77 times the average series demand, which is down from its demand in 2020 (31.6x).
• Apple TV+’s Long Way Up performed better in the UK than any other market in this report. It ranked as the 20th most in-demand digital original which is an improvement from last year when it ranked #30.
• Amazon Prime Video’s Clarkson’s Farm premiered in June 2021 and has been a hit in the UK where it reached 8.08 times the average series demand. It likely benefitted from the popularity of its star, Jeremy Clarkson, who is also the host of The Grand Tour (the 14th most in-demand original series in the UK this year).

United Kingdom platform demand share for drama and action/adventure digital originals

• The UK was one of the five markets in this report where Netflix accounted for a larger share of demand for drama originals (52.6%) than its global share of demand for dramas (51.3%).
• Paramount+ original dramas accounted for 4.2% of demand for digital original dramas in the UK this year. This is well above the platform’s 2.7% global share of demand for dramas.
• Amazon Prime Video saw its largest share of demand for original dramas in the past 2 years in December 2021 when its original dramas accounted for 13.7% of demand for all digital original dramas. This was driven by high demand for its hugely successful new series, The Wheel of Time.

• Paramount+ has a larger share of demand in the UK for its action/adventure originals than it does globally (4.9% vs 3.0%). In November, its demand share (8.4%) exceeded Amazon Prime Video’s (8.3%).
• While Netflix saw a late-year surge in its demand share, at no point in 2021 did it have a larger demand share than Disney in the action/adventure genre.
• The share of demand in the UK for Disney+ originals peaked in July 2021 when it accounted for 45.2% of demand for all action/adventure originals.

Top digital original series in the United Kingdom

Here are the top 20 most in-demand streaming original series in 2021 across all platforms:

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2020 Insights - Full Year

United Kingdom streaming market share analysis 2020: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV+ and more. Presented below is the section for the United Kingdom from The Global Television Demand Report. Enjoy!

Please subscribe to DEMAND360^LITE to access the latest version of The Global Television Demand Report and to discover the latest content analytics and trends for TV series on cable, broadcast, OTT and SVOD streaming platforms around the world.

United Kingdom digital original genre and subgenre preferences

• In the United Kingdom, the drama genre accounted for 46.9% of demand for digital originals in 2020. This is on par with the global average demand share for drama digital originals.
• The UK is among the most receptive markets for horror content. Horror’s 2.8% demand share here is greater than the US but behind the most horror-loving markets, Brazil and Mexico.
• The UK had the second highest demand share for documentary digital originals with 6.3%. This is an increase from 4.0% in 2019.

• Sci-fi drama is the most in-demand subgenre of 2020 in the United Kingdom.
• Historical drama is the 7th most in-demand subgenre in the UK. This is the highest rank it achieved, both in the UK and France.
• Comedy’s share of demand increased in the UK compared to 2019. Last year, sitcom was the 10th most in-demand subgenre in this market but this year it has moved up two places.

United Kingdom platform demand share & digital originals demand distribution

• Digital originals from Netflix account for a majority of demand for digital originals in the United Kingdom in 2020. However, the 52.7% here is below the global average share of demand for Netflix originals.
• The United Kingdom has the second highest share of demand for Amazon Prime Video originals or markets in this report. Two Amazon originals that have been especially popular in the UK this year are Good Omens and The Grand Tour.
• Disney+ had a noticeable spike in demand in the UK in April this year. This was following the launch of the platform in the UK on March 24 and also coincided with the weekly release of Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes in the lead up to the series finale on May 4.

• The Mandalorian is the most in-demand digital original series in the United Kingdom for 2020. It achieved 31.6 times the demand of the average show.
• Apple TV+’s Long Way Up performed better in the UK than any other market in this report. It was the 30th most in-demand digital original and had 8.5 times the average demand.
• Harlots, the Hulu original, also was notably more in-demand in the British market than in other countries with 7.4 times the average demand in 2020.

United Kingdom platform demand share for drama and action/adventure digital originals

• With 57.6% of demand for drama originals, Netflix has captured a majority of demand for this category in the UK.
• In the UK, all the platforms above have a slightly above average share of demand for drama originals while the other category has a well below average share.
• Hulu maintained a relatively stable share of demand in 2020 compared to 2019. Last year it had a 11.2% share of demand for drama originals while this year it has an even 11.0% share.

• Platform demand shares for action/adventure original content in the United Kingdom closely mirror the average demand shares across markets in this report.
• As with all markets in this report, Netflix originals captured the largest share of demand for action/adventure originals in the UK. 31.4% of demand for an action adventure original in the UK was for a Netflix original.
• Post launch, HBO Max reached its peak demand share for action/adventure content in June 2020. In this month HBO Max originals accounted for 27.0% of demand for all action/adventure digital originals in the UK.

Top digital original series in the UK

Here are the top 20 most in-demand streaming original series in 2020 across all platforms:

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2020 Insights - Q2

This Parrot Analytics genre trend report for the United Kingdom reveals which genres and subgenres appealed to British audiences the most during 2020 July to September. The key questions investigated in this report include:

1. Which genres are most in-demand for British audiences this quarter?
2. How do genre trends in the United Kingdom compare to global trends for the quarter?
3. Which subgenres are most in-demand for British audiences this quarter?
4. For only digital original series, what genres are most demanded by British audiences this quarter and how is this different to the overall shares?

A selection of findings from this report are provided below:

• Between July and September 2020, British audiences expressed the most demand for series in the drama genre, with the most demanded drama being the BBC’s Doctor Who.
• The high level of British audience attention for reality series stands out when compared to global averages, with a +3.1% difference.
• British audiences express higher than average demand for procedural dramas, but have lower levels of demand than the rest of the world for anime series.
• Almost one fifth of all expressed demand for digital originals in the UK is for an action and adventure series.

Parrot Analytics Genre Trend reports reveal which genres and subgenres appealed to a market's audiences the most during the quarter.

The key questions investigated in this report include:

1. Which genres are most in-demand for British audiences this quarter?

2. How do genre trends in the United Kingdom compare to global trends for the quarter?

3. Which subgenres are most in-demand for British audiences this quarter?

4. For only digital original series, what genres are most demanded by British audiences this quarter and how is this different to the overall shares?

For all titles, which genres are British audiences demanding most?

• Between July and September 2020, British audiences expressed the most demand for series in the drama genre. 39.1% of all demand expressed was for a series in this genre, with the most demanded drama being the BBC’s Doctor Who.

• Comedy is the second most demanded genre with a 15.2% share of UK demand. The most in-demand comedy over these three months is NBC sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

• British audiences express high levels of demand for series in the reality genre, which is the third most demanded. Reality shows account for 12.4% of all expressed demand, with ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent being the most in-demand series.

How do Genre Demand Shares in United Kingdom compare to global trends?

• The high level of British audience attention for reality series stands out when compared to global averages. The demand share for reality series in this market is +3.1% higher than the worldwide average demand share.

• Similarly, the demand share for variety series is +0.7% higher.

• This comes at the expense of the drama genre, which has a -3.5% lower share than the world average.

• The British demand share for animation is also lower than most markets as it is -1.2% smaller than the global average demand share.

For all titles, which subgenres are British audiences demanding most?

• Crime drama is most demanded subgenre both in the UK and globally. In this market, the subgenre is 1.5 times more demanded than the second largest subgenre, sitcoms.

• The UK has one subgenre that is different to the global ten most demanded subgenres. Thriller does not appear, with British audiences preferring procedural dramas. Britain’s most in-demand procedural drama in these three months is CBS’s Criminal Minds.

• One reason for the low animation demand share in this market is a comparative lack of demand for anime series in the UK. While anime remains one of the ten most in demand subgenres, with a share of only 2.3% it only just makes the chart. For comparison, this is around half the share that anime has in neighboring market France.

For digital original titles, which genres are British audiences demanding most?

• When only digital original titles are considered, the British demand share for drama series remains the largest share. Compared to the drama share for the overall market of 39.1%, the share for digital originals is +3.9% higher at 43.0%.

• In the UK digital original series market, action and adventure series are substantially more important. Almost one fifth of all expressed demand for digital originals is for an action and adventure series. The most demanded series in this category from July to September is Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy.

• Although British audiences have a high demand share for reality series overall, this is not yet being reflected in the reality digital original demand share which accounts for only 2.4%. The most in demand digital original reality series for these months is Netflix’s Nailed It.

• However, the digital original platforms are almost exactly matching the overall UK market demand for comedy. The difference between comedy’s digital original demand share and overall demand share is only 0.1%.

This report is intended as a high-level overview of genre trends in this market. To access more granular genre demand trends for specific platforms, types of titles, timeframes and more, please contact your Parrot Analytics representative.

2020 Insights - Q1

This Parrot Analytics SVOD platform trend report for the United Kingdom reveals which SVOD’s digital original series appealed most to British audiences between April and June 2020.
The key questions investigated in this report include:

Are British audiences demanding more linear or more digital content?

1. Which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by British audiences and how is this demand evolving?
2. In the action and adventure genre, which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by British audiences and how is this demand evolving?

A selection of findings from this report are provided below:

In the UK, linear series are comparatively more effective at capturing audience attention than the global average.

• Unusually, global Top 5 platform DC Universe is not one of the Top 5 UK platforms. UK audiences express more demand for Disney+ originals.
• Demand for Disney+ original series had two separate growth events in the United Kingdom, once for the global platform launch in November 2019 and once after the UK platform launch in late March 2020.

Parrot Analytics SVOD platform trend reports reveal which SVOD’s digital original series are appealing most to audiences in a market during these three months, dive deeper into how this looks for the dynamic action and adventure genre and shed light on the overall size of digital original series within the entire market.

The key questions investigated in this report:

1. Are British audiences demanding more linear or more digital content?

2. Which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by British audiences and how is this evolving?

3. In the action and adventure genre, which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by British audiences and how is this evolving?

Are British audiences demanding more linear or digital content?

• 15.1% of UK audience demand during April to June 2020 is expressed for a digital original series. A much larger proportion, 84.9%, is for a linear series.

• This is different from the global ratio for the same period, which is 17.2% digital original and 82.8% linear. In the UK, linear series are comparatively more effective at capturing audience attention.

• On an average per-unit basis, a digital original series does outperform a linear series. Digital originals make up 13.5% of series in the market by number, yet account for 15.1% of all demand.

Which SVOD’s original series are most in-demand by British audiences?

• With 51.2%, Netflix has the largest demand share in Britain for digital original series. However, this share of the UK market is slightly under-indexing against the global demand share for Netflix original series of 56.7%.

• Unusually, global Top 5 platform DC Universe is not one of the Top 5 UK platforms. UK audiences express more demand for Disney+ originals, which have a 6.5% demand share.

• Similarly, the UK’s 5.6% demand share for series from Apple TV+ over-indexes compared to Apple TV+’s 4.2% global demand share. The most in-demand Apple TV+ series for these three months is Defending Jacob.

The next chart shows how the demand shares for these five platforms have evolved over the past 12 months:

• British digital original demand shares were altered significantly in November 2019. This month was when Apple TV+ arrived in the UK and when Disney+ launched globally.

• A second increase in demand for Disney+ originals occurred in April 2020, following the service’s UK launch at the end of March.

• These events impacted Netflix’s demand share strongly, with the platform dropping below 50% (48.5%) share in Dec 2019. However, it quickly recovered and has been mostly steady at around 51% since then.

• Over the most recent three months, the demand share for Hulu originals has risen from 9.4% in April to 10.3% in June. British audience demand for newly released animated sitcom Solar Opposites is one of the forces driving this trend.

Which SVOD’s Action and Adventure original series are demanded most by British audiences?

• Series originally released on the American DC Universe platform have the largest demand share of action and adventure originals in the United Kingdom. The most in-demand of these series is Harley Quinn, which airs on E4 in the UK.

• UK audiences express a 19.7% share of demand for Disney+ series in this genre, far higher than the global average share of 12.6%. This is likely due to the fact Disney+ officially launched in market immediately before these three months, opening legal access to buzzy titles like The Mandalorian.

• Netflix’s 24.9% UK demand share is significantly less than their global average of 32.2 in this genre.

The next chart shows how the action and adventure demand shares for these five platforms have evolved over the past 12 months:

• The 12-month demand share chart shows that the DC Universe demand share has increased dramatically. Driven by shows like DC’s Stargirl and Doom Patrol, the platform’s share has grown from 23.0% in April to 37.5% in June.

• This DC Universe growth has affected the demand shares of other platforms. Netflix’s share proportionately has resisted this trend the best, dropping only 1.9% since April 2020

• Further back, at the start of 2020 the demand share for CBS All Access originals showed strong growth, peaking at 14.2% share in March. High demand from British audiences for Star Trek: Picard was one of the drivers of this trend.

This report is intended as a high-level overview of the SVOD market in this country. To access more granular platform demand trends for specific platforms, genres, timeframes and more, contact your Parrot Analytics representative.

Need more information? Check out our daily updated TV series popularity data for the United Kingdom.