While iPlayer is something of a juggernaut in the IPTV world, it’s only relatively recently made the leap from PC to living room and connected devices such as smart TVs and set-top boxes.
Arguably 2012 was finally the year when technology and products finally converged to make ‘over the top’ IPTV services a really significant source of content for many Brits. New TV sets and the launch of gadgets like the Roku player put more services within easy reach of ordinary, non-techie viewers.
Those services included US import Netflix, finally launching in January 2012 to compete with home-grown Lovefilm, as well as the long-awaited launch of YouView, and Freesat’s equivalent, together with Sky’s Now TV. It’s now a full year since Netflix debuted in the UK. Twelve months on, how has the British IPTV landscape changed?
While it’s clear that there is a lot more streaming going on than there used to be, IPTV content providers are reluctant to provide meaningful figures. Netflix says it gained a million subscribers in the first seven months of its UK and Ireland operation, but hasn’t said how many of the six million international subscribers it gained in Q4 2012 were based here.
Amazon-owned Lovefilm won’t share detailed UK subscriber information. It has over two million customers, but that’s spread across the five countries in which they operate.
Blinkbox, the Tesco-owned service that provides both free, buy-to-own and rental options, claims subscriber growth of over 220 per cent in returning customers compared to 2011. “The intensive advertising in this sector benefits everyone by raising the profile of streaming services,” a spokesman said. So Lovefilm’s near-ubiquitous ads are helping its rivals too.
Source: The Register
