Two-thirds of online TV subscribers in the UK say they don’t watch original shows such as House of Cards or Transparent that have cost their providers millions to commission.
The two biggest online video on demand streaming services in the UK, Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Instant Video, have invested heavily in original programming in a bid to attract more subscribers. Amazon recently struck a £160m deal to create a new show with former Top Gear stars Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
Just 31% of people told Ofcom in April they used an online TV service to watch original programming, compared to 75% who said they used the service to watch films and almost half who said they watched US shows.
Ofcom said some of the respondents to the survey could have been unaware that they had watched programming commissioned by the services, despite being provided with prompts such as House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black during the survey.
The figures suggest that the majority of UK online TV subscribers are more concerned with back catalogues and foreign TV than exclusive content.
Read the entire story here.
