IHS: OTT producers offer more UHD TV

Online video producers “generally offer a broader range of Ultra HD genres” than traditional pay TV platforms, according to research by IHS Markit.

The research firm said that in the UK market Netflix offers 63 UHD titles, Amazon Prime and Amazon Instant have 28, and Sky has 26.

Amazon and Netflix are not only acquiring UHD films and documentaries, but are also “heavily involved” in producing their own content using 4K resolutions and High Dynamic Range (HDR), noted IHS.

Jonathan Broughton

It added that SVOD services have among the lowest revenue per hour of content viewed, making it a bigger risk to invest in premium content. However, TV series offer a better return on hours of content viewed per dollar invested.

“Online video producers generally offer a broader range of UHD genres than traditional pay TV platforms. To compete, the budgets have grown dramatically to fulfill their ‘blockbuster’ needs,” said IHS Markit senior home entertainment analyst, Jonathan Broughton.

“We are now seeing TV drama budgets around the same levels as major theatrical releases. This means that more expensive production methods involved in UHD make up a smaller proportion of the total budget.”

Globally, IHS said it expects the number of households with a 4K TV to grow from 28 million in 2015 to 335 million in 2020. However, it said not all of these will have a 4K TV content service.