BRITONS spent 40 percent of their waking hours watching TV during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, fuelling the biggest year for new subscribers to streaming services.

The number of subscribers to the three most popular services in the U.K. — Netflix, Amazon and Disney+, which demonstrated perfect timing by launching in the U.K. on the first day of the spring lockdown — will hit 32.4 million by the end of this year. The number of subscribers to streaming services is now double the number signed up to traditional pay-TV providers such as Sky, BT and Virgin Media.

The number of streaming subscribers has increased by more than 8 million this year. That is nearly double the number of the next best year, with more than 3 million people signing up to a service for the first time.

“TV has been a pandemic winner and the growth in subscribers shows how important streaming services have now become in the household entertainment mix,” said Richard Broughton, media analyst at Ampere. “Their low monthly cost means that even as many households impacted economically looked to tighten budgets, streaming services flourished.”

The total number of U.K. subscribers surged 34 percent year on year, and the number of users has doubled in just three years.

In just the nine months since its launch, 3.5 million people have signed up to Disney+. The service, whose popularity has been driven by the “Star Wars” spinoff “The Mandalorian,” has now passed Sky’s Now TV to become the third most popular streaming service in the UK.

Netflix, with 12.8 million subscribers, remains the market leader. Its lockdown crowd-pullers have ranged from “Tiger King” to “The Crown,” “The Queen’s Gambit” and “The Last Dance.” (SD-Agencies)