New ScotPulse survey reveals viewers plan to spend less on subscription TV in Scotland.

A new survey from research body, ScotPulse, reveals Scots’ intentions to move away from subscription TV services.* Given the economic backdrop, rising inflation and increased cost of living, respondents indicated their intention to save money on pay TV. Commissioned by STV, the survey results showed that:

• Almost two thirds (64%) of SVoD subscribers have, or are planning to, cut back or cancel their services.
• Nearly half (47%) of those questioned plan to spend less on TV entertainment subscriptions (such as Sky, Netflix, Disney+ – and so on).

When asked for their thoughts on future usage of services, 52% planned to use less Paid-for TV services and 48% planned to use less SVoD services.  This compared with three quarters (75%) who planned to use free-to-view services at the same level, and 14% who planned to use free TV services more going forward.

The ScotPulse findings are supported by the Q2 2022 figures from the Barb Establishment Survey on SVOD uptake, which show that SVOD subscriptions across homes in Scotland and the UK are starting to fall (versus Q1 2022.) These statistics show that 7 of the 8 SVoD services are down in Scotland, with the drop in Scotland sharper than the rest of the UK. **

Kathleen Wiseman of ScotPulse said: “With the current economic backdrop causing consumers to examine their spending habits, it’s clear from our research that TV subscriptions is one of the areas where people can reduce their costs, with 64% of respondents stating they have or are considering cutting back or cancelling their SVoD packages.”

Richard Williams, MD of Digital at STV, commissioned the research. He added: “UK content still dominates UK viewing. BARB figures show that 73% of all in-home viewing in the first half of this year was to broadcast channels and broadcaster VOD services, nearly six times the size of viewing delivered by the global streamers. There’s room for everyone in this market but it’s clear that in the current climate, the free TV services – with all the brilliant original, high-quality content they offer – should become an even more attractive proposition for viewers.”

The ScotPulse research also backs up recent research from Kantar on UK trends, whose latest Entertainment on Demand data on the British streaming arena revealed that SVoD market decline accelerated by 488k households, with 1.66m SVoD services cancelled during the second quarter of 2022, following 1.51m cancellations in Q1.