• 6 of the top 10 most talked about shows were on free streaming platforms
• Almost 4 in 5 Brits have used a paid streaming service this year, with 58% considering another
• Despite this, 11% admit to streaming illegally

17, December, 2020, LONDON –

The most talked about shows of 2020 have been revealed, with Love Island accounting for almost half (48%) of all tweets posted by Brits. It generated almost 10 times more posts than the second most popular show, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here.

The report, Lockdown and chill: How streaming won 2020, from the personal finance comparison site, finder.com, with exclusive research from the social media analytics specialist BrandsEye, looked at how streaming has surged in a lockdown-filled 2020.

Over 2.28 million tweets relating to 65 shows were analysed, revealing the most discussed shows. Third after Love Island and I’m a Celeb was Strictly Come Dancing. This means that the top 3 talked about shows were all on free streaming platforms, as are 6 out of the top 10. Amazon Prime and NOW had no shows in the top 10.

The highest placed newcomers were The Mandalorian on Disney Plus in 4th place, Netflix’s Tiger King in 7th and The Witcher in 8th.

Inclusivity and LGBTQ+ were key themes that were regularly talked about alongside streaming conversations throughout 2020. One event that generated a high level of praise was the inclusion of a same-sex couple in Strictly Come Dancing, while Diversity’s Black Lives Matter performance on Britain’s Got Talent divided opinion.

Paid streaming figures
With everyone being stuck inside for most of the year, it is no surprise that more of us have been paying to stream than before. Almost 4 in 5 (78%) said they have used at least one streaming service over the past 12 months, an increase from June, when 76% said they did.

Netflix continues to be the most popular platform in the UK, with half of us having used it (50%), although this figure has fallen from 52% in June.

Amazon Prime Video is a clear runner-up in terms of users, with 38% of Brits saying they’ve used it to stream. This is an increase from 35% in June, and indicates that Amazon Prime may be catching up with Netflix as the UK’s most popular paid streaming service.

A fifth of Brits (20%) have already used Disney Plus, despite it only launching in March earlier this year, while 17% said they have used Sky Go. Both of these increased by 3 percentage points from June.

Illegal streaming
Alongside the rise in legal streaming this year, more than a tenth of Brits (11%) admitted to illegally streaming content over the past year. This is a big increase from June, when 6% admitted doing so, although the return of live sports has played a big part in this. Illegally streaming films was the most common illicit activity (5%), but this is followed by illegally streaming premier league football (4%) and TV shows (4%).

The future of streaming
The popularity of streaming doesn’t look set to stop anytime soon. Almost 6 in 10 people (58%) are considering signing up to at least one more paid service in 2021, with Netflix again leading the way (20%). It isn’t ahead by much though, with 17% of people considering signing up to Amazon Prime Video and 12% thinking about Disney Plus.

The full paper, Lockdown and chill: How streaming won 2020, includes expert commentary from industry leaders and can be viewed and linked to here.

Commenting on the findings, Amelia Glean, TV writer at finder.com said:
“British TV watchers have never had a greater selection of shows, films and sports at their fingertips. New streaming platforms appear to be cropping up every couple of months with increasing options to pay-as-you-watch, as well. Even if you don’t have much spare cash to put towards a streaming platform, there are ways you can watch the shows you want, without resorting to illegal streaming:

“You could make use of one-month free trials from the likes of Amazon Prime and hayu. Put the date in your diary before the trial ends to review or cancel it so you don’t default into a subscription you may not want.

“Another tip is to sign up to streaming platforms that allow premium packages where a few family members or friends can login on different devices. You could then split the monthly payment between you to make it more manageable.

“Finally, a few platforms now enable you to just rent or buy the film, show or event you want to watch. So if you don’t plan on watching much, this could be the most cost-effective option for you.”

Methodology:
Finder commissioned Censuswide from 4 -7 December 2020 to carry out a nationally representative survey of adults aged 18+. A total of 2,000 people were questioned throughout the United Kingdom, with representative quotas for gender, age and region

BrandsEye collected 2 275 634 tweets over a 12-month period from UK-based authors (based on publicly shared Twitter location data) regarding 65 TV programmes streamed on seven popular streaming platforms using the names, hashtags and Twitter profiles for the programmes. Data was collected from 1 December 2019 – 30 November 2020 in order to include popular programmes released at the end of 2019 and received high levels of engagement at the start of 2020. The conversations were then analysed for popular themes which drove conversation volumes and engagements.