Protectionism

The stats supporting the BBC's case for 'more stuff, available for much longer' on iPlayer reveal a turn-round on the MySpace scale.

iPlayer was launched at the end of 2007, and by 2014 had 43% of the UK video-on-demand market. Netflix, which started as a DVD rental company, began offering video-on-demand alongside the hard copies in 2007. From 2011 you could get a vod subscription on its own, and by 2014, Netflix had 28% of the UK market.

Now, Netflix has 42% of the UK market, and iPlayer is down to 18%. If you just look at 18-to-34-year olds, Netflix has 51% share, with the BBC iPlayer down 15%.

Somebody should do some work on the proportion of Netflix content that is British-made. Remember all those politicians (of all parties) tut-tutting at the BBC buying Dallas, Dynasty, Kojak, MASH, Tom & Jerry and all that good stuff, to protect British culture ?  The battle's almost lost.