Netflix Still Big On The Big Screen: Study

Nearly 80% of Netflix streaming users in the U.S. watch the OTT service on a TV set, a level that’s held fairly steady over the past four years, Leichtman Research Group found in a new study that surveyed 1,211 households nationwide in April.

LRG also noted that 80% of all Netflix subs also subscribe to a pay-TV service, compared to 85% in 2012, and 88% in 2010. According to the study, about 48% of consumers who don’t take a pay-TV service subscribe to Netflix, versus 29% in 2012, and 16% in 2010. Additionally, 15% of Netflix subs surveyed also acknowledged that they share their subscription with others outside their households.

LRG’s study, Emerging Video Services VIII, also found that 47% of those surveyed subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime and/or Hulu Plus.

The survey also showed that 49% of U.S. homes have at least one TV connected to the Internet, either natively or through separate connected devices such as Blu-ray players, Apple TV boxes, the Google Chromecast adapter or a Roku product. That’s up from 38% in 2012, and 24% in 2010.

More broadly, 24% of adults watch video from the Internet via a connected TV at least weekly, compared to just 13% two years ago, and a mere 5% four years ago, LRG said.

About 31% of adults watch video daily and 58% on a weekly basis on non-TV devices such as PCs, smartphones, tablets. That compares to 18% daily and 46% weekly from two years ago, LRG said.

“While this study is LRG’s eighth annual report on this topic, Emerging Video Services have truly ‘emerged’ over the past two to three years,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG, in a statement. “This recent growth was spurred by Netflix’s decision in the third quarter of 2011 to focus on streaming video, coupled with the proliferation of connected TV devices, smartphones, and iPads and tablets.”