Download Day: Summer break sparks surge in offline streaming
David Farnor | On 28, Jul 2017
Today is the day that most people will download TV and movies ahead of their summer holidays, according to Amazon.
The online giant’s research suggests that Friday 28th July, which it has dubbed “Download Day”, will see a surge in Brits embracing offline streaming, as they remember to pack box sets as well as clothes for their summer breaks.
Falling the day before the start of the anticipated busiest travel week of the year based on Civil Aviation Authority reports from 2016, trends show that this will be the day that Amazon Prime Video customers will download the largest amount of TV shows and movies. Amazon has also predicted that Wednesday 2nd August will be the day the majority of downloaded content will be viewed, a couple of days into the holiday when sunburn begins to strike, the hundredth game of cards has been played and trying to learn a foreign language by watching the local news channel has become a little frustrating.
UK airports reported a record-breaking summer travel period in 2016 with Gatwick Airport experiencing more than 8 million passengers taking flights between Friday 22nd July to Sunday 4th September, up 6.6 per cent on 2015. The busiest day for departures at this airport was Friday 29th July. Similarly, Eurostar saw an increase in passenger numbers from the start of August 2016, following the introduction of low-cost return day trip tickets to Paris and Brussels. Last Friday saw more than 8,800 flights leave or enter UK airspace, making it the start of an intense period of UK travel, with NATS predicting over 770,000 flights this summer. This would make 2017 the busiest summer travel period in history, a 5 per cent increase on 2016.
What will Brits be bingeing abroad? The most downloaded TV shows on Amazon Prime Video so far this year are American Gods, Black Sails, Lucifer, Parks and Recreation, Sneaky Pete, The Grand Tour, The Man in The High Castle, The Walking Dead, Vikings, and Peppa Pig for the kids. Some of the most downloaded movies on Amazon Prime Video this year include David Brent: Life on the Road, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, Eye in the Sky, Interstellar, John Wick, Legend, Now You See Me 2, The BFG, The Bourne Legacy and The LEGO Movie.
“As the first streaming service to have offered download capability, we know how much our customers value being able to download our TV shows and movies to watch on the move, especially at this time of year when travel for families across the UK is at its highest,” says Jay Marine, VP of Amazon Video Europe. “Prime Video has something for everyone – from Peppa Pig for the kids, to American Gods for fantasy drama fans, to our most popular global show The Grand Tour for the whole family – we have thousands of movies and TV shows to download and watch on the go this summer.”
Amazon is not the only streaming platform now offering downloads, with Netflix following suit last year and BBC iPlayer also making programmes available for offline viewing.