Entertainment

• Access to Smart TVs has levelled out, growing only to 72% in 2024 (2023: 71%), with 81% accessing them on a daily basis.

• Access to video streaming services is stable at 74% and has broadly remained at this level for the last 4 years. Netflix is still the leader by a significant margin, with nearly 2 in 3 (59%) having access to it. However, this is a downward trend since the peak in 2021 when 65% of respondents had access to Netflix.

• Having grown significantly since its launch in Ireland, Disney+ peaked at 36% in 2023. This has decreased by 4% in 2024 (32%).

• 27% cancelled a video streaming service in the last 12 months, up marginally from 24% in 2023, with 31% reporting the main reason this year being costs (24% in 2023); followed by the service not being used enough (29%), or they needed to spend less on subscriptions to account for rising costs (21%).

• Household sharing of accounts is down significantly to 26% in 2024 from 37% in 2023.
  

Lorraine Griffin, Chairperson and Tax Partner, expands on how SVOD services are cracking down on account sharing:

Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD): Has it peaked?

TV remains the preferred device for watching long-form content, such as movies. Combined with a marginal increase of access to Smart TV’s (72%), it is not surprising that access to subscription services remains flat in the current year with 74% of respondents having access to at least one paid digital subscription service, the growth rates seen in the COVID years have not continued. While the correlation between Smart TV ownership and access to subscription services holds, access to subscription services is lower in the 55 – 75-year-old cohort, who seem to be satisfied with free-to-air content from PSBs or traditional satellite/cable services.

The average respondent has access to 2.3 subscriptions services, consistent with 2023. The rate at which new subscribers are signing up is consistent with the prior year at 22% (2023: 21%).The re-subscription rates remained stable, however, 38% of users did not change their subscriptions in the current year, which is down 3% from 2023.

A shift to focusing on profitable growth

Several significant things happened in 2024 for SVOD, including pricing increases and the crackdown on account sharing, as SVOD platforms have focused on extracting more value from the three quarters (74%) of the market which already pays.

Over the last 12 months, there has been a lot of coverage on Netflix’s restrictions on account sharing. Based on the responses to our survey, 26% of users share their account with other households (2023: 37%). 25% either stopped sharing with another household or had another household stop sharing with them.

Young adults claim to be majorly impacted by sharing crackdown when compared to older age groups. Given the number of respondents with access to a subscription service has not changed, it seem that the early SVOD platforms crackdown has been successful.

Alternative options

Nine in ten consumers (87%) use a free video streaming service. This includes broadcaster video on demand (BVOD) which can be ad-supported and license fee-supported, and online video platforms.

Public service broadcasters are attempting to diversify to be less dependent on traditional TV advertising and grow digital income streams. Content strategies are also evolving, with a focus on cost, efficiency and potential viewership.

Media

• Younger adults prefer to use social media to stay up to date on news or current events, while older adults prefer TV.

• Perception of online misinformation has increased compared to last year, with over half (53%) stating that they have seen information on social media that was subsequently proven to be fake more regularly.

Lorraine Griffin, Chairperson and Tax Partner, dives into some of the key stats on the impact of social media on Irish consumers:

Are there reliable news sources out there?

Two-thirds (67%) of 18–24-year-olds cite social media as a top-three preferred news source. Younger groups tend use social media more and may engage organically with news content which is algorithmically tailored to them.

They have access to a wide range of perspectives, including interactive elements like comments and debate, but the variety of sources means that verifying the accuracy and authenticity of a story is crucial.

In contrast, a mere 11% of 65–75-year-olds cite social media as a top-three news source. This group prefers traditional sources of news such as TV news (83%).

News websites and apps are a popular middle ground (40% of all respondents cite them as a preferred source), which bridges the gap between preferences of old and young.

In the last 12 months, nearly three in four (71%) of respondents claim to have seen information deliberately designed to mislead, which is broadly consistent with the previous year (72%). This figure is self-reported, so only accounts for people who have identified misinformation (some may have seen misinformation but not identified it).