Irish streaming spend surpasses €1.3bn a year

Total video streaming spend in Ireland has increased by more than €330M since 2021.

Irish adults are spending €1.3bn a year on streaming subscriptions, according to a new survey.

This is an increase of more than €330m since 2021.

“People know that they can’t get all of the top shows from just one provider and the majority are prepared (even if it is reluctantly) to pay out of fear of missing out”

The nationally representative survey of 1,004 adults in Ireland was conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Pure Telecom. It explored the potential impact of new and possible crackdowns on password-sharing by the world’s leading streaming providers, whereby additional charges will be applied to those who share passwords with people outside of their household.

X marks the Spotify spender, while video kills the radio star

The survey found that 26% of video streaming subscribers in Ireland are sharing their subscription passwords with someone outside of their household, indicating that the streaming spend could increase as providers introduce additional charges for password sharing.

Pure Telecom’s research found that consumers in Ireland are feeling the pinch from having multiple video streaming accounts. The survey found that on average, adults in Ireland are paying for 2.4 video streaming services each.

The average adult currently spends €28.26 per month on video streaming subscriptions, versus €22.57 per month in 2021. Gen X (adults between the ages of 43 and 58) are the highest spenders by generation, spending €33.36 per month on video streaming services.

Many are now choosing to reduce the number of video streaming services they pay for to save money. Some 38% of those who pay for video streaming services report to have cancelled at least one subscription in the last 12 months to cut costs. Meanwhile, 17% said they have cancelled to get better content elsewhere, while 16% said they switched off as they had too many subscriptions already.

To alleviate the financial burden of subscription fees, 28% of adults would be willing to watch ads on their chosen video streaming channel if it meant they could get the content for free, while 14% of adults said that they already use video streaming channels with ads to get content for free.

“Ireland’s population has well and truly embraced video streaming and the market is continuing to grow – now far surpassing the €1bn mark in annual total consumer expenditure – and the trend of password-sharing that our research uncovered could see this rise considerably again,” said Paul Connell, CEO of Pure Telecom.

“People know that they can’t get all of the top shows from just one provider and the majority are prepared (even if it is reluctantly) to pay out of fear of missing out.

“As ever, people value a good quality product being delivered at a fair price, which has made for a highly competitive marketplace. With an abundance of choice at their fingertips, cost-conscious viewers are more than happy to hop between providers if they think there is better content elsewhere, while others are prepared to cut back on their monthly subscriptions to save money.

“Consumers always want to know that they are getting bang for their buck, particularly at a time when people are watching what they spend more closely. At Pure Telecom, we enable seamless streaming at the best value and with the best customer care, ensuring our customers only ever need to worry about how many subscriptions is too many!”

John Kennedy
Award-winning ThinkBusiness.ie editor John Kennedy is one of Ireland's most experienced business and technology journalists.

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