YouView takes UK catch-up lead

UK connected TV platform, YouView, is now the largest catch-up TV provider in the UK, according to the latest stats from digital media consultancy Decipher.

The firm’s Q3 2013 audit claims that the YouView platform’s catch-up assets grew by 25% in the quarter to 2,677 programmes, beating Sky, which has 2,592 content assets.

In spite of this, Decipher acknowledged that Sky’s claim that it is the leading catch-up service in the UK still had “some ground.”

“Their service offers far more breadth, giving subscribers access to content from up to 32 channels compared to YouView’s 15,” said the report.

Looking at a range of online VOD stores, Decipher found that Sony’s Playstation Store, accessed via the Playstation 3 games console offered the most choice, with more than 24,100 episodes and movies available. This compared to 20,800  content assets in second place Blinkbox – the Tesco-owned digital media store. Microsoft’s Xbox Video store came in third place with 20,400 assets.

On a subscription basis, the largest VOD selection is available on BT’s YouView service, said Decipher – including content from the BT Player and other broadcaster players like BBC iPlayer and 4oD. This was followed by Lovefilm Instant and Virgin Media, with Sky following behind.

“We also considered who is most aggressively growing their service; Lovefilm championed here with asset growth of 34%, beating Blinkbox’s 27% expansion into second place,” said Decipher.