Consumers spent about 7% more time watching the top two streaming services in 2019 than during the previous year, as weekly subscription video viewing time increased from three hours, 45 minutes to four hours, six minutes, according to a new report from The NPD Group.
Netflix was the top streaming service in 2019, but even with new services launching late last year and scheduled for this year, The NPD Group said that most audiences are still finding content they want to watch on the major SVOD services they already have.
According to the report, 99.5% of consumers with subscriptions to Netflix and Hulu watched at least one title per month in 2019.
Subscription Video Viewing Time
Action and adventure, family, animation and superhero movies are some of the top SVOD movie genres every year, according to The NPD Group. In 2019, viewers added science fiction dramas, courtroom dramas, and “cyberpunk” among other subgenres to the consumer preference mix. Among the most popular were “Annihilation” (sci-fi drama), “Primal Fear” (courtroom drama), and “The Matrix” trilogy (cyberpunk). According to the NPD Group, viewership for these subgenres has increased each year since 2017.
“When people try new services, like Disney Plus or Apple TV Plus, very few are cutting back on the existing major platforms,” said Kathi Chandler-Payatt, media entertainment industry analyst for NPD, in a prepared statement.
The research also found that original TV shows on Netflix made up more than 40% of all content watched by either kid or adults, compared to just 10% for Hulu Originals.
“This year will likely be the tipping point when more than half of Netflix content will be original,” Chandler-Payatt said.