Spending on video streaming down - Survey

The annual spend on video streaming services by consumers in Ireland is €1.1 billion, down €200 million since last year, despite the fact that video streaming has grown in popularity.

Research from broadband provider Pure Telecom shows that 96% of adults in Ireland are streaming video content, an increase from last year's figure of 94%.

However, the study shows that there has been an increase in the proportion of people who do not pay for a subscription, as well as a fall in the average number of subscriptions per adult.

The 'Connected Lives' survey found that 37% of adults have cancelled one or more video streaming subscriptions in the last 12 months.

Of these, 45% said they did so because of costs and 28% said the content was not good enough.

One-in-five cancelled in favour of another service and the same proportion said they cancelled because the free or discounted period had elapsed.

The research shows that 22% of adults in Ireland do not have a paid video streaming subscription, a significant increase on the 6% who said this last year.

Meanwhile, the average number of video streaming subscriptions per adult has gone from 2.4 last year to 1.5 this year.

"Our expectation for this research was that we would find, yet again, that the streaming spend in Ireland had risen," said Paul Connell, CEO, Pure Telecom.

"Instead, we found that as we approach 100% of the population using streaming services, people are getting more frugal about which services, and how many, they are willing to pay for," Mr Connell said.

The nationally representative survey of 1,006 adults in Ireland was conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Pure Telecom.