The percentage of Dutch households without a traditional TV connection is almost at 5 percent, an increase of 50 percent compared to two years ago, according to the Telecompaper’s Video Behaviour of Dutch Consumers report for the first quarter. Whereas the number of TV connections is on the down, the number of Videoland and Netflix customers continue to grow. The Dutch watch 28 minutes worth of films and series via such services, every day.
While it is mainly the young households (20-30 years old) that no longer have a TV subscription, older households (30-50 years old) are also increasingly going that way, according to numbers from the last few quarters. Dutch people without a TV subscription do not seem to replace these with online alternatives available in the Netherlands for watching Live TV. KPN’s Play and KNIPPR will soon no longer be available and, for the time being, NLziet has not grown beyond the 100,000 subscriber mark.
Services that provide series and films are especially increasing in popularity. Around 35 percent of Dutch households subscribe to Netflix, with the percentage at 65 percent among 20-30 year olds. Videoland has also seen large growth figures lately. At present, 6 percent of households have access to the (exclusive) content of RTL through this service.
More subscriptions, more use of OTT services
The number of subscriptions to Netflix and Videoland has logically also increased the number of viewing minutes for these services. The average Dutch person watches 28 minutes worth of films and series from video-on-demand services such as Netflix, Videoland, Amazon Prime or RTL XL. Dutch people aged 12-40 watch more, namely 47 minutes per day, while older people (65+) watch an average of 10 minutes a day.
Still, the television remains the most popular screen for VoD services. Over 80 percent say they view films and series with such services on the large TV screen in the living room. Mobile devices are also often used. The laptop, tablet and smartphone are all mentioned by 30-34 percent as devices on which they watch films and series.
Sports packages growing in popularity
Both Fox Sports and Ziggo Sport Total are growing in terms of reach. Around 12 percent of the Dutch get Fox Sports Eredivisie, with another 5 percent receiving Ziggo Sport Total. The latter service has particular growth in the recent quarters, spurred on by the fact that people can get the package for free if they combine Ziggo TV and internet services with a Vodafone mobile subscription.
Fox Sports had a similar deal with KPN (and its brands), followed by T-Mobile Netherlands last October. Online.nl goes even further and offers all TV customers the Fox Sports Eredivisie package for free. All this resulted in a three-year growth of 55 percent for the Fox Sports customer base.
