TV shows trump movies on Netflix and other services
Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this report misstated Julia Lamaison's last name.
TV shows have become even more popular than movies among subscribers to Netflix and other online video services, a new survey finds.
When it comes to what viewers watch on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and other so-called over-the-top services, TV series accounted for about three-fourths of titles viewed, according to the survey from GfK, a market research firm with offices in New York, London and Nuremberg, Germany. Movies narrow the gap when it comes to time spent watching, since they are longer than TV episodes.
House of Cards came in as the most popular choice, followed by Breaking Bad during the mid-December 2013 to mid-March 2014 period traced by GfK. The survey involved 2,866 U.S. viewers who kept diaries of what they streamed.
If GfK does the survey again, it might find different favorites. Netflix has said that its women's prison drama Orange is the New Black was its most watched show ever, and its second season hit the service in June, after the time covered by this survey. But during the time period, House of Cards' second season landed in February.
Consumer acceptance of online video has been well-documented, but there has been little independent research on what subscribers watch.
The findings should be encouraging for Netflix and others, as well as networks, studios and other content producers, says Julia Lamaison, GfK's research director for media and entertainment. "These services are no longer niche," she said.
Spending on Internet-delivered video is projected to continue its rise and to eventually surpass box office revenues. Total Net video revenue is estimated at $10.7 billion in North America this year by Strategy Analytics, rising to $18 billion in 2019. Last year, Hollywood took in $10.9 billion in theaters, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.
Next year, Net video and box office spending in the U.S. are expected to surpass that of DVDs and Blu-ray Discs for the first time, estimates Futuresource Consulting, a U.K.-headquartered firm with an office in Boston. Physical disc spending will account for about $10 billion this year, Futuresource expects, but it will continue to decline.
Separate GfK research found about one-third of all U.S. homes subscribe to a streaming service, with Netflix the most popular (26% of homes), followed by Amazon Prime Instant Video (10%) and Hulu Plus (5%) and Vudu (1%).
Plenty of room remains for growth of streaming services' catalogs. Fewer than one-third (31%) of Netflix members have watched House of Cards, and less than half (44%) have watched Orange is the New Black, suggests another finding, this one from Philadelphia-based Centris Marketing Science.
Subscribers will likely continue to discover shows as they make their way through a service's offerings, GfK's Lamaison says. Among U.K. viewers, Prison Break ranked No. 3, while 24, Heroes and Desperate Housewives also made the U.K. top 10. "These services have the power to ignite discovery amongst both traditional followers and new audiences," she said.
Top 10 streamed programs (% of all streams)
House of Cards – 4.6%
Breaking Bad – 4.3%
Dexter – 3.8%
The Walking Dead – 3.5%
Orange is the New Black – 1.9%
Family Guy – 1.6%
American Horror Story – 1.3%
Parks and Recreation – 1.3%
Sons of Anarchy – 1.2%
How I Met Your Mother – 1.1%
Source: GfK, 2,866 U.S. viewers keep diaries of what they streamed on all services from mid-December 2013 to mid-March 2014.