The number of viewers watching TV shows via subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services increased 34% between 1Q 2012 and 1Q 2013, with Netflix commanding a dominant 90% share of video-streaming units — 4 percentage points lower than a year ago, according to The NPD Group’s latest VideoWatch VOD report.
Contributing to SVOD growth is growing overall viewing of TV programming, according to NPD. The TV category of NPD’s VideoWatch Digital tracking service accounts for 80% of streams. Neflix holds an 89% share, with HuluPlus exhibiting “healthy growth” and accounting for 10% of TV streams in 1Q. Amazon Prime accounted for just 2% of the overall TV units streamed in 1Q.
“There’s no doubt that Netflix is driving the growth in SVOD, particularly with increased attention to television programming,” Russ Crupnick, senior vice president of industry analysis at NPD, commented in a press release.
“We are also seeing good gains in the streaming numbers from Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime, and while neither pose an immediate threat to Netflix it is interesting to see which services later adopters will try.”
The percentage of SVOD subscribers streaming only from Netflix fell to 67% in 1Q13 from 76% in 2Q 2012, with 10% of SVOD streamers using both Netflix and Amazon Prime and 8% using both Netflix and Hulu.
“Since its launch, Netflix Watch Instantly has enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the SVOD market, and the company still has a quite comfortable market-share lead,” Crupnick added. “While Hulu Plus and Amazon both still have a long way to go before they come close to catching Netflix, we are beginning to see increasing trial of these services, even among some Netflix users.”
