500,000 UK subscribers for Britbox

BritBox UK hits half a million subscribers target

LONDON — BritBox UK today announced that the streamer has hit its target of half a million subscriptions.

The digital video subscription service which was created by the BBC and ITV and includes content from Channel 4 and Channel 5 launched at the end of 2019, and has been bringing the very best in present and future British programming and award-winning content to subscribers for just over a year.

BritBox UK launched with the biggest* collection of British box-sets available all in one place, including recent programmes as well as classic British TV. The service has benefited from record-breaking views of content including the Britmas box-set collection over the festive season.

Content and subscriptions to BritBox UK have both grown rapidly, with the service leveraging and expanding the broad collection of exclusive content available as well as original commission Spitting Image (launched in October 2020) which marks the first of a slate of originals due to launch on the platform over the next two years. During the twenty four hours following the launch of Spitting Image alone, BritBox UK saw a tenfold increase in the daily rate of new subscriptions to the service, and a second season has already been commissioned to launch in 2021. BritBox’s first original drama commission, The Beast Must Die starring Cush Jumbo and Jared Harris, will launch on the platform in May.

ITV’s chief executive Carolyn McCall said: “It’s been a great first year on BritBox, with all of the UK PSBs on board and the launch of our BritBox Originals strategy with Spitting Image. Achieving half a million subscriptions in little over a year from launch puts BritBox ahead of plan and firmly establishes the service in the UK OTT market.”

Most-viewed content on the service since launch has included the likes of Broadchurch, Only Fools and Horses, Love Island, and the collection of over 600 episodes of Doctor Who Classic which are only available to stream on the service. Hand picked and curated collections including ‘Out of this World’ featuring classic cult and science fiction television, and ‘Centre Stage’ which showcases performing arts including productions from The Royal Ballet Company and National Theatre have also proved popular and set the service aside from competitors.

Partnerships, including those with BT and EE announced in 2020, have also been crucial to BritBox’s success. BritBox just announced distribution of the service via Amazon Prime Video Channels from the Spring onwards, which will then see the streaming service available on over 40 million devices which represents approximately 90% of video-on-demand homes**.

* Biggest compared to other SVOD services. Verify at britbox.co.uk/help.
** 21m homes in the UK can watch VOD on a TV set