Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Prime Video Continues to Best Netflix in US Subscriptions; 89% of Broadband Households Are Streaming

New data revealed by Parks Associates shows that while Netflix may be the top global streaming platform, it doesn’t have the most subscribers of any domestic service.

  • New data from Parks Associates estimates Prime Video has more domestic subscribers than Netflix.
  • Parks’ numbers also show that YouTube Premium has cracked the top 10 of streaming services for the first time.
  • Eighty-nine percent of broadband homes now have at least one streaming service, and 29% of homes have eight services or more.

Despite Netflix’s lofty subscriber numbers, the market intelligence firm Parks Associates says it’s not number one in the U.S. in terms of customers. That title goes to Amazon’s Prime Video, which does not publicly report its own subscriber tally. Nevertheless, Parks estimates that it has more than 77.32M customers than Netflix has in the United States, no doubt aided by the fact that Amazon Prime subscribers get Prime Video included in their subscription.

Another interesting piece of information from the Parks report is the fact that YouTube Premium is now in the top 10 of U.S. streaming platforms in terms of subscribers, beating out services like MGM+, AMC+, and others. YouTube has always been popular in among American audiences, but the fact that so many users are willing to pay to skip ads on the service shows their commitment to using it as a primary source of entertainment.

Parks’ data also shows that ad-supported streaming platforms are continuing to gather steam. Eighty-nine percent of households with internet subscribe to at least one streaming service, and 29% are subscribed to eight over-the-top (OTT) services or more.

But how is that possible in an era where streaming costs continue to rise and budgets are shrinking? The numbers from Parks show that 41% of broadband-equipped households have watched an ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) service in the past 30 days. The use of free streaming platforms like Pluto TV and The Roku Channel are clearly helping customers fill in their entertainment gaps while saving money.

“The market for subscription services is saturated, and consumers continue to experiment with ad-supported services as they evaluate their budgets,” said Eric Sorensen, Director of the Streaming Video Tracker at Parks Associates.

From the article, "Prime Video Continues to Best Netflix in US Subscriptions; 89% of Broadband Households Are Streaming" by David Satin

Previously In The News

OTT Churn Still High

By the end of 2015, it was reported that about 20% of U.S. broadband homes had shuttered their over-the-top video service subscriptions in the past twelve months. That’s a slight rise from the second...

Netflix's Distracting Buffering

Netflix had been considered relatively immune to price increases because a high percentage of its customers say they are very satisfied with the service. Just 9 percent of Netflix's customer base had...

Smart Home Products Moving To 50% Of Households By 2020

Some homes will be getting smart and others won’t. The latest forecast of North American broadband households shows that half of them will be smart homes within four years. Of course, this means...

Consumers Want Their Home And Car Connected To Each Other

This has potential implications for marketers, since advertising is more likely going to travel directly through car screens and speakers rather than through smartphones. Location added to the mix of...