“La casa del drago” is the most watched streaming series in Spain, but Prime Video is the most used platform

The streaming scene in Spain is already well established, with local platforms like Movistar + or Filmin and giants like Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max or Disney +. Entertainment on Demand, the new service from the consulting firm Kantar, has an analysis of the consumption of video on demand content services (VoD for its acronym in English) between the months of July to September 2022. The analysis describes the landscape of the streaming market in Spain as “hypercompetitive”with so many VoD services struggling to recruit users, and points out the most viewed series and platforms, as well as the tastes and habits of its subscribers.

In the In the list of the ten most viewed series of the quarter, Netflix has five, while Prime Video and Disney + have two and HBO Max only one, which however leads the number one series seen in streaming in Spain: ‘The House of the Dragon’.. The prequel managed to make it through the eighth season of “Game of Thrones” and got the most viewers of an original series on HBO in its premiere, according to the platform itself, which claims that “all the episodes of the series have, up to now, an average of 29 million viewers” in the United States, which according to the statement means “more than three times its average opening night audience with a strong follow-up”.

It follows in second place ‘Stranger Things’ on Netflix, on the occasion of its new season, and ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ in third place, available on Prime Video. Despite the success of the HBO series, the studio seats Amazon Prime as the number one platform in our countryas its users particularly appreciate the value for money.

This is reflected in the 43% of the new subscriptions that the Amazon platform has experienced, compared to growth of 15.6% for Disney +, 9.8% for HBO Max and 8.1% for DAZN. We will have to wait for the next analysis of Entertainment on Demand to know if this increase is partly temporary due to the long-awaited series of ‘The Lord of the Rings’. The rest of the most watched series in order are “The Boys”, “This Is Us”, “Better Call Saul”, “Money Heist”, “Only the Murders in the Building”, “The Crown” and “Sandman”.

This was stated by Dominic Sunnebo, Kantar’s Global Director of Insights “streaming has a growing presence in Spain, where seven out of ten families are registered on a platformahead of countries like Germany (53%) and the United Kingdom (56%) “then points out that his “growth is still very exponential, which it can reach more than 80% of the population as in the case of the United States with five affiliated platforms per family “. However, despite the rise of platforms, only 33% of Spaniards do series marathons, which is a minority compared to countries like the United States (61%). With all, more than half of Spaniards (51%) believe that watching series and films is their favorite pastime.

Of note is the phenomenon of password sharing, especially present on Disney + and Netflix, where one in four families gives the password to other users. This implies that the number of people who access the platform is significantly higher than the number of people who pay for it. Netflix took its first step to make it difficult by announcing that it would ban access to the same account from different addresses, which they verify via the IP of the devices. Nonetheless, the study indicates Netflix as the great favorite of the Spaniards, being the most recommended platform. However, this does not mean that HBO Max is the most considered option when subscribing to a new service, although users find the interface leaves a lot to be desired compared to those of Disney + or Netflix.

What really matters

Recently the platforms have suffered a reputation crisisdue to the monthly rate hikes of many of them and criticism of changes in business models including advertising, which led some users to call them “new tv”.

However, the platforms are here to stay and continue to be supported by a growing majority. Mayte Gozález, Director of Shopper and Media at Kantar, sheds light on what viewers like the most: Contrary to what one might think To explain, “avoiding advertising or having a free trial period would not be among the main reasons for choosing (platform)”, but rather the ability to view quality content at any time. This is evidenced by the fact that according to the study 40% of Spaniards said they didn’t mind seeing ads if it implied the service would be cheaper.