Netflix continues to loom large over the OTT video market and new numbers show that’s translating to an overwhelming command over total U.S. OTT viewing hours.
According to ComScore, Netflix accounts for 40% of all U.S. OTT viewing hours. That’s good enough to account for more than Amazon’s (7%), YouTube’s (18%) and Hulu’s (14%) shares combined.
While Netflix leads the pack in terms of penetration in Wi-Fi households at around 40%, Hulu is leading the charge in terms of average viewing hours per month per household at close to 30.
Hulu is also leading the top four video services in terms of engagement with viewers. Typical Hulu households average 2.9 hours of viewing per day, while Netflix averages 2.2, Amazon averages 2, and YouTube, somewhat surprisingly, averages 2.1.
ComScore said the increase in YouTube’s engagement times can likely be attributed to the service’s transition over time toward including more long-form content.
While other SVODs are outpacing Netflix in engagement times among viewers, Netflix is still likely out front in terms of the popularity of its original series.
Demand for Netflix originals is on average 8 times higher than that for Amazon’s originals, according to a study by Parrot Analytics released earlier this year.
Parrot Analytics came to this conclusion by measuring Demand Expressions. The firm gathered the data for its specific qualitative benchmark by collecting cross-platform, country-specific measurements of video streaming, social media activity, photo sharing, blogging, commenting on fan and critic rating platforms, as well as downloading and streaming via peer-to-peer protocols and file sharing sites.
by Ben Munson
