A third of EU internet users paid for film, series or sports streaming in 2025, Eurostat survey shows

About one in three people in the European Union who use the internet paid for a film, series or sports streaming service in 2025. Eurostat's annual survey on how households and individuals use information and communication technology puts the share at 32.7% of people aged 16 to 74 who had used the internet in the previous three months, up from 29.6% in 2024. Paid music streaming subscriptions rose to 23.0% from 20.9%, and subscriptions to gaming streaming services to 6.1% from 5.5%. The figures are in Eurostat's dataset on internet purchases, last updated on April 17, 2026, in which 2025 is the latest year. Eurostat highlighted the headline shares in a news article on August 27, 2026.

Measured against everyone aged 16 to 74, including people who had not been online in the previous three months, the share with a film, series or sports subscription was 30.7%, and with a music subscription 21.6%.

How the survey was done

National statistical institutes run the survey, generally using a European model questionnaire, and collect answers by face-to-face or telephone interview or online questionnaire. In 2025 about 330,000 individuals aged 16 to 74, and about 172,000 households, were surveyed across the EU, according to Eurostat's metadata. Most questions describe the situation at the time of the survey, usually the first quarter of the year, and the subscription questions ask about the previous three months.

Eurostat's dataset and metadata give no margin of error for these indicators. The metadata says the results carry the usual errors associated with random sampling, and that national institutes send it estimated standard errors for one headline indicator, on online shopping. Small gaps between countries, or between years, should therefore be read with caution (our note). Eurostat's film and music subscription indicators start in 2024; until 2023 the survey measured streaming or downloads of films and music as online purchases, so earlier years are not directly comparable (our reading of Eurostat's indicator labels).

From Ireland to Bulgaria

The highest shares for film, series and sports streaming were in Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands, each with about six in ten internet users paying. Bulgaria had the lowest share, 9.3%, followed by Slovenia at 13.7% and Latvia at 16.7%. Sweden led for music, at 52.0%, ahead of Ireland at 50.8%; Bulgaria, at 6.5%, and Croatia, at 7.8%, were lowest. Gaming streaming was most common in the Netherlands (12.8%) and Ireland (12.1%) and least common in Slovenia (1.9%). Outside the EU, Norway recorded 58.4% for film, series and sports and 52.1% for music.

The share for film, series and sports streaming rose in 22 of the 27 member states between 2024 and 2025 (our count). Germany's share for film, series and sports rose to 39.4% from 32.8%, and its music share to 33.6% from 28.3%. Poland's film share rose to 29.9% from 24.8%. France went the other way, slipping to 29.6% from 31.9% for film, series and sports and to 18.4% from 19.4% for music.

Who pays

People aged 25 to 34 were the most likely to pay, with 48.3% subscribing to film, series or sports streaming and 38.4% to music. Among 16- to 24-year-olds the shares were 33.1% and 31.5%, close to the EU average for film and above it for music, and this youngest group had the highest share for gaming streaming, 11.7%. Among 65- to 74-year-olds, 12.7% paid for film, series or sports streaming, 6.6% for music and 0.6% for gaming. Men were more likely than women to pay for every type, most clearly for gaming, at 9.3% against 3.0%.

What the numbers measure

Each indicator records whether a person had a paid subscription of that type in the previous three months. It does not show how many services they paid for, how much they spent or how much they watched or listened, and free, ad-supported services are outside its scope (our reading of the indicator definitions). For comparison within the same survey, 7.2% of EU internet users paid for online news sites, newspapers or magazines in 2025, and 39.2% bought cultural services online, a category that covers music, films, books, newspapers, magazines and games.