Sky leads UK catch-up TV market, Netflix leads VOD

Sky’s catch-up service is now the “most comprehensive in the UK”, according to digital media consultancy Decipher.

In its quarterly audit of VOD on the major UK DTV platforms and OTT services, Decipher named Sky as leader in the catch-up space both in the number of channels it has and in its unique assets.

However, Netflix was named as the UK video-on-demand frontrunner, with more content than its closest on-demand rivals Virgin Media, Tesco-owned video store Blinkbox and Amazon-owned VOD rival Lovefilm.

“One of the key changes in the landscape of UK VOD in the last six months has been the introduction, and then the rapid growth, of catch up content on Sky,” said the March Decipher report, claiming this was “historically an area that Sky was weak in”.

“It [Sky’s catch-up offering] has grown from a small amount of ITV content, to including catch up from all of the UK’s free-to-air broadcasters, as well as content from Sky’s own channels and others such as History and the Crime & Investigation Network.”

In terms of VOD, Netflix was found to have more than 14,000 content assets, having steadily increased its content library each quarter. “Whilst you may not be able to find the latest blockbusters on there, and whilst the content in general may not be as up-to-date as that on Sky, Virgin or Blinkbox, the sheer quantity of movies and especially TV shows puts the US-based service out in front,” said Decipher.

However, Netflix’s US service will today lose nearly 1,800 titles from the likes of MGM, Warner Bros. and Universal.