Since March 2022, Point Topic has commissioned YouGov to conduct surveys on the take-up of bundles TV services, fibre to the home/premises (FTTH/P) access amongst subscribers, the impact of TV/streaming services on consumer decision-making, take-up of broadband packages by tier speeds, ISP market shares, ISP churn rates, along with consumers' propensities to change ISPs for bespoke bundled TV and broadband services. This market research provides insight into the UK consumer's pay-TV and broadband consumption and preferences in the context of an increasingly competitive full fibre network provider sector with a wealth of online video and TV content offerings readily available.
Fieldwork research carried out online by YouGov on behalf of Point Topic. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+):
9-10 March 2022 - Total sample size, 2233 adults.
8-9 November 2022 - Total sample size, 2033 adults.
1-2 March 2023 - Total sample size, 2099 adults.
5-6 June 2023 - Total sample size, 2041 adults.
Please note that the results reported are representative of Q2 2022, Q4 2022, Q1 2023, and Q2 2023. Where datasets are missing for certain quarters this will be due to the nature of the survey questions put forth to the participants. Point Topic has created each survey question set with uniformity in mind, however, given the nature of the marketplace, questions have been altered on a quarterly basis accordingly. When referring to FTTH/P statistics in this report the results have been filtered to those respondents who have indicated they are subscribing to a full fibre broadband connection.
Major players dominating full fibre subscriptions with uptake to faster speed packages on the rise
Fluctuations in market shares among different FTTP providers from Q4 22 to Q2 23 demonstrate that consumers are finally getting to grips with full fibre terminology, although care should be taken as Virgin Media O2's (VMO2's) network is predominately DOCSIS 3.1 technology and covers around 16.3m premises with its FTTP network footprint covering around 3.3m premises.
BT and Virgin Media experienced overall increases in market share and both closed off Q2 23 with a 22% and 30.5% market share respectively; Sky (20%), TalkTalk (7%), Plusnet (3%), EE (4%), and others had mixed results with slight fluctuations. Vodafone showed a significant increase in market share coming in at 8.7% and the proportion of respondents who don't know or can't recall their provider decreased over time.
We asked Q4 22 and Q2 23 survey respondents which broadband speed tiers they were subscribed to and then analysed the results by FTTP and non-FTTP subscribers.
For FTTP subscribers packages offering downlink speeds of 101 Mbps or higher were the popular choice with 38% of respondents in Q4 22 taking this speed tier compared to 36% in Q2 23.
For both quarters there was near parity for both FTTP and non-FTTP subscribers on a 25 - 100 Mbps service; in Q4 22 33% were FTTP connections and 31% were non-FTTP, and in Q2 23 both types of connectivity subscriptions were equal at 35%.
However, in Q4 22 44% of consumers on a non-FTTP service did not know which speed tier package they were on which decreased to 38% in Q2 23 and 26% of FTTP subscribers were unaware of their downlink speeds.
Broadband and TV bundled packages growing in popularity
The percentage of respondents with a TV/video bundle shows an increasing trend over the quarters, starting at 35% in Q2 2022 and rising to 43% in Q2 2023. This 8% increase y-o-y shows that despite the ongoing cost of living crisis, consumers are opting for curated TV/video and broadband packages.
Conversely, the percentage of respondents without a bundle shows a decreasing trend over the quarters, starting at 55% in Q2 2022 and declining to 50% in Q2 2023.
After further distillation of the data, during the three quarters, the FTTP take-up rate for those respondents subscribed to TV/video and broadband package, just over half (51%) on average were taking a full fibre service.
Overall, the data shows that consumers are slowly making the shift to full fibre broadband along with taking a pay TV/video service despite both options being more costly demonstrating that TV services remain an essential item amongst survey respondents.
Opportunity for ISPs to secure new subscribers with right curated TV and broadband bundles
The percentage of net respondents unlikely to change ranged between 44% and 48%. However, in Q2 2023, there was a noticeable increase in the percentage of net respondents likely to change (38%) compared to the previous quarters.
However, the percentage of respondents with a TV/video bundle increased from 35% in Q2 2022 to 43% in Q2 2023, indicating a gradual upward trend.
For the past three quarters, we asked survey respondents if they had changed Internet service providers within the past six months. For those respondents who did change providers, we then asked them to rank the influence of a TV/video bundle offering on their decision-making.
From Q4 22 until Q2 23 a bundled TV/video service offering increased in importance amongst those who switched. In Q4 22 19% were completely influenced by a TV bundle, which grew to 27% in Q1 23 and 32% in Q2 23.
On average across the three quarters, 23% of respondents were somewhat influenced by an ISP's bundled TV service, while 30% were strongly influenced, indicating that there is room for growth within this market segment given that providers can get the balance right between gigabit capable full fibre and curated TV services that are affordable and present value for money.
Survey results demonstrate a receptive marketplace, with consumers seeing full fibre FTTP stability and TV as something worth budgeting for. ISPs who get their entry-level 101 Mbps+ full fibre speed tiers pricing right will easily find a receptive marketplace for subscribers willing to pay that little bit extra for a TV/video service.
To receive the full report including the complete dataset please isabelle.anderson@point-topic.com