The assumption that British consumers will sit out the recession at home with a beer and Premier League football on pay TV has been challenged by a recent survey, which showed that 10 per cent of BSkyB subscribers were planning to cancel next year.
The online survey of 1,022 people by Continental Research, published this week, revealed the impact the credit crunch is likely to have on consumer expenditure on pay TV services.
According to the online survey, 18 per cent also plan to reduce their spending on pay TV channels, like movie or sports channels, over the next 12 months and six per cent have now decided not to sign up to additional services as a direct result of concerns about the economic slowdown.
The survey showed that the wider availability of Freeview could be a payTV deal-breaker. As the report said: “In this environment, Freeview comes out as a real hit with cash-strapped TV fans. 15 per cent have already got Freeview as a result of their concerns about an economic downturn, and 13 per cent plan to get it in the next year for the same reason. “
So could this mix of the free digital platform and diminishing consumer spending power have a lowering effect on sports rights?
Contacted after Sportel in Monaco, Ben Nicholas, head of UK Media Sales for IMG Media, told BritSport Weekly. “It’s too early to say whether Freeview will have detrimental effect impact on pay TV going forward. But the trend is that Sky has shown robust growth in times of economic downturn and has reported record new subscriber levels in the last quarter.”
Around 75 per cent of Sky’s customers currently subscribe to sports channels, but Tim Barber, Associate Director at Continental Research, argues that some paid-for services are sure to suffer.
“One of the truisms about how consumers respond to a challenging economy is that they go out less and therefore by implication spend more time at home, watching TV.
“What is interesting about this research is that it suggests many people are looking to save money yet further by cutting back on their monthly subscriptions for additional TV channels and services.”
