The first quarter of 2025 saw a mixed bag for UK streaming services. While some experienced significant subscriber growth, others faced declines. According to Barb’s Establishment Survey, 67.5% of UK homes (20.1 million) accessed a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in Q1 2025, a slight increase from the previous quarter.
Doug Whelpdale, Head of Insight at Barb, commented: “20.1 million UK homes accessed at least one pure-play VOD service in Q1 2025, showing continued stability in the market. The number of homes with two or more services grew for the first time since Q2 2024, reaching a new high watermark of almost 14.1m homes.” Netflix saw its subscriber base increase to 17.4 million UK homes (59.2%), with 28% of those homes utilizing its ad-supported tier (4.8 million homes).
Amazon Prime Video also experienced growth, adding 100,000 subscribers to reach 13.4 million UK homes. A noteworthy aspect of Amazon’s strategy is that 87% of its subscribers are on the ad-supported tier (11.7 million homes). Conversely, Disney+ saw a decline, with 7.3 million UK homes (24.8%) accessing the service in Q1 2025, down from 7.6 million in Q4 2024. 23% of Disney+ homes were on its ad tier (1.7 million homes).
Other services showed varied results. Discovery+ remained stable at 3.1 million homes, while Paramount+ saw significant growth, adding 430,000 subscribers to reach 3.1 million UK homes. Apple TV+ saw a slight increase to 2.7 million homes, and NOW experienced a decline, falling to 1.8 million homes from 2 million in the previous quarter.