Two thirds of UK will pay to stream films

Two-thirds of UK will pay to stream films
iPlayer is just too good, according to new survey

A new survey out suggests that the UK is more willing than ever before to part with its cash when it comes to streaming premium movies, but prefers on-demand television to be free.

These stats come for KPMG which has found that 64 per cent of the UK would now spend money on movie streaming - this is an increase of 4 per cent between March and October 2011.

This good news for Lovefilm and Netflix, two of the bigger services currently flogging movie streaming on a subscription basis.

Encouraging message

When it comes to television, though, it seems that we have been spoiled with the iPlayer and are not yet ready to spend money on TV streams.

Just 30 per cent said they would delve into their bank accounts to stream a TV show, an increase of 3 per cent since September 2010.

Liz Bales, Director-General of the Industry Trust for IP Awareness, the UK film and TV industry's copyright education body, said to TechRadar about the findings: "KMPG's research chimes with our own, which has consistently shown that the majority of people are willing to pay for film, TV and video content online.

"The findings send an encouraging message that UK consumers do value creative content and appreciate that there is a need to pay for it, whether it's on or offline.

"The UK audio-visual industry is working hard to provide a growing array of affordable digital services that meet consumers' needs. Today there are more than 30 official sites offering film and TV alone."

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.