LONDON—As major streaming players invest heavily in original content for their international expansion, new research from Ampere Analysis shows that Paramount+ entered the UK streaming market – currently dominated by giants Netflix and Amazon Prime – on 22nd June with a focus on local content and the crime and thriller genre.
According to a new report by Ampere Analysis, Paramount+ holds now the second largest slate of Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) titles commissioned in the UK in 2022, with 13 brand new commissions so far this year, second only to the market leader Netflix, which had 17.
In Q1 2022, Paramount+ expanded into Western Europe with most of its new commissions (seven of 12) set to be produced in the British market. The second slate of original titles in Q2 2022 consisted of eight more (six from the UK), making the UK the country with the highest number of Paramount+ original commissions outside the US.
Among the other streamers, Ampere reported that Discovery is third with 6 UK originals, followed by Amazon (5), Apple (3) and Disney (2).
Seven of the 13 commissions announced by the streamer in the UK so far in 2022 have crime and thriller as their primary or secondary genre, reflecting the British audience’s preferences. Crime & Thriller was the most popular genre among UK respondents in Q1 2022, Ampere said.
The Ampere research also found that SVOD stacking is becoming increasingly popular in the UK with many British households now subscribing to two or more streaming services. The average UK streaming household has access to 2.7. This is still below the US, where the average is four.
“Paramount+ is conscious of how crowded the UK streaming market is becoming, and their decision to distribute with Sky+ will help tackle this challenge by providing instant subscriber reach,” said Ampere analyst Zuzana Henkova. “One important differentiator for Paramount+ is its UK-made content and this will also be key to engaging Sky's customer base who are heavier-than-average viewers of UK content.”
