The eleventh edition of the analyst’s Living with Digital report investigated the shifts in consumers' entertainment content consumption, service usage and device ownership and interaction among 2,000 people in the UK and US and 1,500 in Germany and France.

The report found that uptake of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) continues to rise across all countries. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video were increasingly prominent in the US, UK and Germany and multiple service uptake was also high: 82% and 69% of Amazon Prime Video users in the US and UK respectively taking Netflix. Uptake of Netflix in France and Germany was found to have increased significantly since the previous wave of research, although Futuresource noted evidence that churn was high in France compared to the other surveyed countries.

Futuresource added that the relationship between SVOD and pay-TV was relatively complementary in most countries, as pay-TV households were more likely to take SVOD services than free-to-air-only households. That said, the analyst cautioned that as SVOD becomes more established this was less apparent, and pointed to the fact that in the US, there was evidence to suggest that SVOD services were starting to cannibalise pay-TV. In France and Germany, pay-TV penetration was found to be over twice as high amongst Netflix households than non-Netflix households.

The survey also found that increased living room connectivity was continuing to help drive overall video viewing. Connected/smart TV connectivity rates were found to have improved markedly with 85% of US and UK smart TV owners now connecting their sets. Across all countries, 71% of connected sets were being used once a week or more. Video continues to drive overall usage, although free viewing has fallen back as paid-for video, particularly SVOD, increases in importance on connected TVs.

“Despite a decline in DVD and Blu-ray purchasing, the number of consumers buying transactional digital video appears to be slowing, largely driven by a decline in digital renters,” commented David Sidebottom, principal analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “However, those purchasing electronic sell-through (EST) movies and TV shows are marginally increasing. Few video buyers are just buying EST, suggesting a steady transition to digital ownership.