Half of UK adults sharing streaming service login details
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Editor
| 24 August 2022
A survey from UK publisher LADbible Group has revealed over half (56%) of 18-44 year olds in the country, representing around 11.8 million people, currently use someone else’s login details to access a streaming service.
lad bible 24Aug2022
The LADbible Group TV Report, commissioned to coincide with the Digital Media Killed the TV Guide panel at the Edinburgh TV Festival, set out revealrf the changing nature of TV viewing habits as traditional TV networks and streaming platforms battle it out for UK viewers’ attention against a backdrop of digital disruption, rocketing interest rates and apathy surrounding TV licence fees.

The study highlights the challenges that streaming services face to attract paying subscribers in the face of the growing cost of living crisis, the problem of streamers in convincing younger viewers to play for content in the future appears even bigger.

A key finding was that almost two-thirds 65% of Gen Z viewers (18-24 year olds) surveyed admit they use someone else's streaming service login details and are the generation most likely to do so (2.4x more than 35-44 year olds).

The study found that watching any form of TV content, 44% live/streamed, was considered second only to music (75%) in terms of most essential activities in the lives of 18 - 24-year-olds, followed by social media use (37%). 18–24-year-olds surveyed noted that they spend an average of 2.9 hours per day watching some form of TV content with social media taking up 3.5 hours.

Following its return to screens in February, the BBC had high hopes for its youth-focused channel BBC Three, but the study highlighted the channel a long way to go in creating stand-out content for younger audiences as nearly two thirds (63%) were unable to name a show on the channel. In addition, nearly three quarters (74%) of 25–44-year-olds did not feel the TV Licence Fee represents good value for money - whilst 70% of Gen Z audience surveyed did not know nor could identify the correct price of a current regular UK TV Licence.

However, the BBC’s entertainment was the genre that those surveyed felt was most valuable to them - nearly double that of sports content - perhaps reflecting the scarcity of football in the corporation’s schedule. And news was the third most valued content genre, whilst 40% of 25-34 year olds cited Facebook as the place they get their news.

The survey also observed that as many as 57% of 35-44 year-olds feeling overwhelmed by the number of streaming services and younger viewers also feeling the same (42% of 18-24 year olds and 55% of 24-34s). The vast and growing amount of content to view is also eliciting a similar reaction with 44% of 18–24-year-olds overwhelmed by the amount of tv content available to view. 40% of 25-34 year olds and 38% 35 - 44 year olds surveyed agreed with this notion.

“Our survey produced a fascinating and sometimes surprising mix of results. We found reports the cite the end of young people’s interest in watching TV content to be exaggerated Anna-Lee Bridgstock, director of data, intelligence and planning at LADbible Group. “There is a huge appetite for content but the sheer amount of TV shows and number of services to watch them on is leading to a huge amount of time endlessly searching for what to watch. The cost-of-living crisis also poses a huge challenge for subscription services in convincing viewers to subscribe to paid for services and password sharing has become commonplace.”