More than one-third of Americans now stream movies and TV shows via Netflix.
A new report from Nielsen says that 38% of people in the U.S. use or subscribe to Netflix, up from 31% in 2012.
Overall, the use of streaming services has increased in the past year. Use of Hulu and Amazon Prime have also been on the rise, with 18% of those surveyed said to be streaming Hulu (up from 12% last year) and 13% using Amazon Prime Instant Video (up from 7%). The vast majority of Netflix users stream content on their computer (48%), followed by mobile phone (26%).
The report also looked at binge-watching, or the practice of streaming multiple episodes of a show in a single sitting. Nielsen found that 88 percent of Netflix users and 70 percent of Hulu Plus users binge-watch – undoubtedly bolstered by Netflix’s recent foray into original content.
Although the practice of binge-watching is inarguably great for viewers, in that it gives them the freedom to stream as many episodes as they want whenever they want, some argue that the trend could actually be harmful to Netflix’s bottom line. With so much content being consumed at such a rapid pace, Netflix may feel pushed to spend on more and more content in order to keep up with user demand.
But Netflix has made the binge-watching a selling point by releasing all of their original and exclusive series in one big chunk. Turning everything around and going back to a model where viewers have to wait for additional episodes to appear could be a risky proposition as well – and there is no indication that the company is looking to change the way they serve content to their customers.
Image via Netflix