Three million Londoners feel Christmas would be ruined without Netflix

From using social media to stay in touch with friends and family, to streaming festive films and music, almost half (45%) of Londoners using the internet on Christmas day believe that the internet going down would impact celebrations.

In fact, surveying over 2,000 consumers across the UK, Zen, the Internet Service Provider bringing peace of mind, found that the popularity of services such as Netflix and Spotify, and the growing availability of devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home, means over a quarter (28%) of UK consumers think an internet outage could ruin Christmas.

The wealth of connected gadgets available has led to festive shoppers expecting to purchase 105 million new smart devices this year.

What’s more, with over one in ten households in the UK using smart speakers to control their homes – from lighting and the thermostat to even the Christmas lights – having a reliable internet connection over the festive period is essential.

The popularity of these devices has led to a fifth (20%) of consumers planning to give or receive a smart device for Christmas, with just over a third (33%) planning to buy at least one device this year alone.

Yule be online

Interestingly, while London consumers are using the internet this Christmas for social media (35%) and streaming music or TV (28%) a number are relying on it to control their voice-enabled devices (7%), smart heating (6%) and smart lighting (6%) – a trend that will grow in the coming years.

Despite a fifth (20%) aiming not to use the internet at all this Christmas, Londoners using the internet on Christmas day admitted that in the event of an internet outage they would miss social media sites and streaming music and film at Christmas.

The Christ-miss list for Londoners

1. Social media (35%)
2. Streaming TV or music (28%)
3. Video calling (19%)
4. Online shopping (14%)
5. Gaming (14%)

“Christmas should be the most peaceful time of the year, but our research shows that seemingly small issues with home broadband could cause family fallouts,” says Richard Tang, Chairman and Founder of Zen.

“With so many new devices set to be connected to the web this festive season, testing the internet connection is now as vital in preparing for the big day as checking whether batteries are included and getting the dinner timings right.”