Netflix is seeing off Amazon’s challenge to its streaming supremacy, by adding double the number of UK subscribers than its rival and is now in almost 10m homes.

Netflix, which is up for 15 Oscars including best picture and director for Roma, hit 9.7m UK subscribers at the end of the third quarter last year, according to a new report from TV measurement body Barb.

The report estimates that rival Amazon’s Prime Video service is only just over half the size of Netflix in the UK - with 4.9m users - with Netflix continuing to extend its lead.

Netflix UK added 2.2m new subscribers in the year to the end of the third quarter 2018, double the 1.1m Amazon added, growing at almost 30% in the third quarter.

“Change is afoot as subscription video-on-demand services continue to cement their place in the television ecosystem,” said Barb. “Netflix is the main driver.”

While Netflix continues to be the most popular service, fuelled by a $13bn (£10bn) budget to spend on making and licensing TV shows and films, the report reveals that homes with children aged up to nine are more likely to subscribe to Amazon.

Amazon bundles its video service with its Prime subscription package which includes perks such as one-day delivery on products bought on the website and access to Amazon Music.

“The presence of young children, and the unique pressures that they bring, may be playing a part here,” said Barb. “The double carrot of on-demand content and next day delivery of urgently needed household items may be enticing their families towards Amazon.”



Overall, the UK’s three biggest subscription video-on-demand services, which also includes Sky’s Now TV, added 3.45m customers over the year taking their combined total to 16.2m, a 27% annual increase. This is more than the number of subscribers to traditional pay-TV packages from providers including Sky, BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk. Sky’s Now TV added almost 200,000 customers rising to 1.6m as at the end of the third quarter.

Barb’s report also shows a marked rise in the number of UK homes that feel the need to take two or more paid-streaming services, which rose by 40% year-on-year from 2.8m to 4m. Almost 12m homes in the UK had at least one of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Sky’s Now TV in the third quarter, a 22% increase.

The report also reveals an increase in the amount of time viewers spend per day watching content on services such as Netflix, up 17% year-on-year to 46 minutes. The 16- to 24-year-old demographic watches significantly more per day at 63 minutes, on average.