Here’s a quick and very interesting late Summer post for my readers who value the UK factual market:
- I checked the average audience across the UK Top 10 and Top 100 for the 5 years since 2015 in the Documentary & Lifestyle categories.
- I expected to see a steady decline as British viewers drifted away from the broadcasters to Netflix, YouTube and other online viewing platforms.
- I was wrong!
Findings:
- The average audience for the Top 10 for 2019 is bettered only by 2016, when the British nostalgic magazine Countryfile was on a tear.
- This year’s average across the Top 100 for the Documentary & Lifestyle categories reveals a big gain versus previous years.
- The quality and audience appeal are distributed across the list of most-viewed programs rather than concentrated at the top.
- The data is for the highest-rated episode of a series, and not season average.
UK Broadcasters vs Netflix
- BBC, ITV and Channel 4 continue to deliver a broad range of factual programs with broad appeal to UK viewers.
- Here is the UK Top 100 for 1H 2019 with my Takeaways.
- My recent post on the online Demand in the UK for Netflix documentaries reveals a lame offering of U.S.-centric projects.
- Netflix lacks the local topicality, diversity and breadth of the UK broadcasters’ offering.
- Read Parrot Analytics Top 20 Netflix Documentaries for the U.S., UK, France, Germany & Australia measured by online Demand.
