Over-the-top (OTT) video usage in Western Europe is continuing to expand, with the UK and France leading the charge across the continent, says Parks Associates research.
The Parks OTT Video Market Tracker shows that 55% of UK broadband households and 51% in France are watching TV programming and films online and that 30% of broadband households in the former country and 17% across the English Channel subscribe to paid-for OTT video services.
The market in the UK is being fuelled by interest in the BBC iPlayer and OTT video services from Netflix, Sky (NOW TV) and Amazon. Parks identified new services emerging in France, including a new transactional video service from well-known retailer FNAC, but noted that Netflix has struggled in the French market, despite partnerships with many of France's leading pay-TV providers.
Yet despite this healthy growth the analyst added that the two countries did not compare well to the United States where 70% of broadband households are watching TV programming and films online and 64% of such home subscribe to paid-for OTT video services.
“OTT is definitely gaining traction across Europe. We are seeing new OTT video services spring up, but not as many as in North America," said Brett Sappington, director of research, Parks Associates and author of the report. "In many parts of Europe, pay-TV penetration is lower than the US, and European consumers have been reluctant to pay for video in the past due to so many 'free' options such as the BBC iPlayer. But, as more pay options enter the market, with content unavailable anywhere else, they are slowly changing the culture of video viewing in Europe.”