Sponsored By
Video consumption in Europe is increasingly on-demand, according to a new report from Pyramid Research. The research company found high broadband penetration, large video catalogs and growing pay-TV penetration are the important drivers for the uptake of on-demand video in Europe.
Much of this shift to on-demand is driven by OTT providers: Pyramid estimates subscription-based OTT video is currently used by 37% of pay-TV users in the UK today, with Amazon Prime and Netflix playing an important role in driving penetration.
Pyramid believes that this growing interest in VoD represents a sizeable revenue opportunity for European operators. It also cites Now TV, the OTT service offered by UK satellite operator Sky, as an example for other operators to emulate.
This report follows another study by UK regulator Ofcom, which found that under 25s in the UK were spending about a third of their daily viewing time watching VoD. (See UK Under-25s Are Guzzling VoD, Finds Ofcom).
Both reports underscore the need to shift from a more traditional linear viewing paradigm to one that is more flexible and convenient for generations raised on interactive, multiscreen, on-demand services. But I would suggest operators also keep in mind older demographics that are still viewing traditional linear TV. Live TV viewing for the UK market (across all age groups) has only declined by 6% in the past two years -- not trivial by any means but less than half the amount within the 16-24 age group.
It's also worth considering lifestyle factors. Our living habits change as we go through different stages in life, and it's not clear that this degree of multiscreen/on-demand adoption will be maintained as this generation buys houses, has children and busily cultivates grey hair.
— Aditya Kishore, Practice Leader, Video Transformation, Telco Transformation
