Streaming giants are failing to beat traditional broadcasters in the UK’s TV ratings charts.
Yesterday’s research showed that five of the most popular streaming TV shows were not among the top 100 in Britain.
Strictly Come Dancing was viewed more than other global sensations, such as Countryfile and The Great British Bake Off.
Netflix had four shows in the top 100 while Disney’s film Black Widow also made the list. The figures were released by the UK’s TV audience measurement body, BARB.
The top 100 most-watched TV shows in Britain were only five, and Netflix’s Squid Game was number ten.
Countryfile, The Great British Bake Off, Strictly Come Dancing and The Great British Bake Off drew more viewers than other global sensations like Squid Game (pictured).
This was done to determine which programs across all channels, as well subscription video on demand and on-demand were the most popular in October.
BBC1’s Strictly episode at the end of the month topped the list with an audience of 10.44million with The Great British Bake Off in second on 8.89million.
An episode of ITV’s new drama The Larkins was third with Silent Witness, Shetland, Countryfile and Coronation Street following.
Episode seven of South Korean show Squid Game was the tenth most watched on a TV set in October – with 5.77million. The actual number could be higher, as it only counted how many people had viewed the English-dubbed version. It is possible that it may have been viewed by many more people who watched the English dubbed version with subtitles. Amazon Prime Video was absent from the Top 100 shows for March.
Netflix had four shows among the 100 most watched. There was The Guilty (46th) with 3.12M, You (58th), a psychological thriller You (2.69M), and Maid (67th) with 2.52 Million. Disney’s film Black Widow was in 79th position.
BARB described the new way of collecting TV ratings as a ‘once-in-a-generation upgrade’, as it is measuring subscription streamers and video-sharing as well.
The South Korean series centres around a fictional game show in which poverty-stricken characters compete in a series of death games to win a £27million cash prize
Data is being collected by the organisation from ‘router meters’ in internet connected homes that are part of BARB’s survey group. The survey group estimates that there are 5,300 participating homes, of which 96% have been connected online.
According to the research, October saw 231 minutes of video viewing per day. Of this, 68% (or 156 minutes) was broadcaster viewing. 35 minutes were for advertising or subscription video-on demand viewing. 40 minutes were with video sharing.
Justin Sampson, BARB’s chief executive, said: ‘Understanding people is at the heart of BARB’s remit and it’s been clear for some time that streaming services have started to attract viewers who have traditionally relied solely on linear channels for their viewing entertainment.
‘It’s great news for the television and advertising industry that we’re upgrading our always-on measurement service to include SVOD and video-sharing platforms. For the first time there is audience measurement for these services that bears all the hallmarks of a joint-industry currency: independence, objectivity and transparency.’