The BBC, Amazon and Netflix are bracing for a boom in downloads of films and TV shows in the coming days as holidaymakers look to stock up on their favourites to watch on tablets and smartphones while they are away on their summer breaks.
The BBC says the number of shows downloaded from iPlayer over the summer holiday period of July and August has more than doubled in the last four years to more than 20m. The corporation expects its download service, which was launched in 2012, to do brisk business again this summer.
Amazon UK is predicting that pre-holiday downloading of films, TV shows, ebooks and video games will peak on Friday, which it is calling “download day”, and that consumption of downloaded content will be at its height on Wednesday 2 August. With the Met Office forecasting unsettled weather continuing across much of the UK next week, it sounds like a reasonable prediction for staycationers, at least.
The BBC said its summer winners were likely to include the dramas Top of The Lake: China Girl, Trust Me and Man in an Orange Shirt. Popular comedy downloads are likely to include W1A, Quacks and Ill Behaviour.
Amazon’s most downloaded shows so far this year include American Gods, Peppa Pig, The Walking Dead, The Man in the High Castle and The Grand Tour. Popular films have included David Brent: Life on the Road, Dr Seuss’s The Lorax, Interstellar, The BFG and The Lego Movie.
The BBC said that in 2013 there were 10.1m downloads of shows, led by users of tablets who clocked up 5.6m downloads. By last summer the total had jumped to 20.5m, with tablets accounting for 13.3m.
“Downloads are great for holidaymakers looking to take their favourite shows away with them so that they have got something to watch on the plane, to keep the kids entertained or if they get stuck indoors on a rainy day,” said Dan Taylor-Watt, the head of BBC iPlayer. “We tend to see a spike in downloads over the summer months, and are expecting a significant increase in the coming weeks.”
Netflix, the world’s biggest streaming service, with more than 100 million subscribers, offers fewer titles to download, although most of its Originals series – including The Crown, Narcos, Orange is the New Black and Stranger Things – are available.
“With the increase in travel over the summer holidays, we’re seeing an increased amount of people in the UK taking content offline to enjoy when they don’t have an internet connection,” said a Netflix spokeswoman.
Teenagers and children in particular have taken to life beyond the traditional TV schedule, with streaming and downloading proving far more popular with younger people than with older demographics.
Ofcom found that viewing of broadcast TV by children (four to 15 years old) and 16- to 24-year-olds fell by 33% between 2010 and last year.
Netflix is estimated to have about 6.4 million UK subscribers, according to Ampere Analysis. Amazon UK is estimated to have about 5 million users of its rival Prime Video, with up to 8 million signed up to its Amazon Prime service.
“These services have become such a regular part of our viewing activity for so many consumers, the idea that when we go on holiday or travel and not be able to use them I suspect fills many people with dread, particularly parents,” said Richard Cooper, a research director at Ampere Analysis.
“The fact that you have seen so many of these providers move to this model [offering downloads] is indicative of how popular it is. Downloading may not have the huge numbers that streaming and on-demand has – we are talking about viewing on tablets and mobile phones – but it has seen large increases in usage, particularly with younger demographics.”
