BBC Reports 10,000 Shows Viewed Online a Day

The streaming platforms of European broadcasters are outgunning the global streamers when it comes to depth of content, research agency Glance reported in Cannes during TV market Mipcom this week.

“Everyone is a streamer, even the broadcasters,” Frédéric Vaulpré, senior VP at Glance, told Variety in a café in the Riviera resort, referring to a process he calls “platformization.” “Broadcasters now act as streamers and streamers start to act also as broadcasters,” he said, mentioning how streamers were including live events, such as concerts and sports matches, and entertainment shows, such as quiz and talent shows, in their bountiful buffet of content.

The streaming platforms of the broadcasters have moved from being only catch-up services to 360-degree content providers, with television shows, live stage shows, podcasts and even digital versions of print publications included on their platforms, he said, citing the example of Auvio, the streaming platform of Belgian broadcaster RTBF.

The business models vary of course: Some have no advertising, some have advertising, and others have a subscription tier, such as ARD, whose subscription tier costs 4.99 euros a month. This is a way for the German public broadcaster to monetize popular shows such as crime drama “Tatort.”

“A strength of the platforms of the public broadcasters is the fact that you have access to a very deep catalog,” Vaulpré said.

Looking at the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2023, in the U.K., BBC’s streaming platform the iPlayer had 10,000 shows viewed per day – up 2.5 times in two years – compared with Netflix with 4,800, Prime Video with 2,400 and Disney+ with 900.

The BBC broadcast channels reported 1,000 shows aired a day, up 0.8 times in two years.

The broadcasters’ platforms are attracting a slightly younger audience than their linear services: the average age of ITV’s linear service is 59 years old while for VOD service ITVX it is 51, but the gap is narrowing. ITVX’s average age has risen four years since 2023, while the average age of viewers of the linear service remains constant.

Western Europe continues to see declines in the consumption of linear television. In U.K., each person watched on average two hours and 20 minutes of linear TV a day, down four minutes on a year earlier. All other Western European countries are now below three hours a day, except Italy where it is three hours and 35 minutes, more or less the same as last year.