Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) video streaming has increased 350% in the past ten quarters and now averages at 93.2 minutes per subscriber each day (around 1.5 hours), according to a new study. The research was solely based on Netflix, and sampled 2,000 adult broadband users.
Rising non-U.S. share for Netflix
In the second-quarter of the current year, the number of hours of streaming for Netflix reached 7 billion, an increase from 2 billion hours in the fourth-quarter of 2011, according to research from The Diffusion Group. TDG co-founder Michael Greeson said, “Netflix is the big dog of online SVOD and sets the bar when it comes to viewing hours.”
In the United States, Netflix video streaming rose three-fold from 1.8 billion per hours in the fourth-quarter of 2011 to 5.1 billion in the second-quarter of 2014 according to TDG. Total international streaming in that period increased ten-fold from 200,000 hours in the fourth-quarter of 2011 to 1.9 million hours in Q2 2014.
Netflix has a huge number of subscribers in the United States, contributing to 72% of the total usage. However, this is a drop from U.S. viewing hours representing 94% in third-quarter of 2011, according to the report. Usage of the service outside the United States will continue to grow as the company expands globally. Last week, Netflix launched in six new European countries, including France and Germany, and is expected to enter Australia in early 2015.
Television viewing way ahead
The growth story of Netflix has been impressive, but it should also be compared relative traditional television viewing. According to recent data, Americans are still watching traditional media three times more than streaming media. In the second-quarter, TV watching increased to 142 hours and 38 minutes per month along with 14 hours and 13 minutes of television programming on DVRs and video on demand, according to Nielson.
There was no comment from the online video streaming service regarding TDG’s survey, which was released on Thursday, according to a report from Variety. However, based on its own data, the company said that in the first-quarter of 2014 it streamed 6.5 billion hours of video globally, totaling to 44.8 hours monthly per subscriber, which is an increase from around 5 billion for the third-quarter of 2013.
