Netflix is Top Pick with Majority of Streaming Customers
Bloomberg
just reported that
last weekend, March 14 and 15, during the first real week of US life under the thumb
of coronavirus, streaming time went up a full 20 percent—and
that’s worldwide, not just in the States. The biggest gain was in Austria, with
44 percent, but the US saw a 7.5 percent increase (data from Wurl Inc.)
Furthermore, the report says that installs of the Netflix app also went up 34 percent in Spain and 57 percent in Italy, the latter of which
is hard-hit by COVID-19 cases (data from SensorTower).
All of which underscores the message in this chart (above) from the latest
report from HighSpeedInternet.com: Most people would pick Netflix
alone if they could only get one video-streaming service. The competition, as it
exists today, is primarily Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video, which all virtually tie for second place. Why Netflix? 75 percent
said it’s all about
the content.
More competition is looming, though. HBO Max, Quibi, and Peacock are coming soon, and there’s plenty of free and niche pay-video-streaming
services out there, including our Readers’
Choice pick for on-demand video streaming—Acorn TV. The report also asked
people whether they are overwhelmed already with the choices: 49 percent said yes.
Most people know you can have more than one; 57 percent
of the respondents had at least two paid streaming services in use. And considering that the 500 people surveyed for this report all answered these questions pre-COVID-19, that number is likely shooting up already.
So is “piracy,” when
people use a shared login. 43 percent of respondents already use someone
else’s credentials to access at least one paid streaming service, something the
streaming services had been considering
cracking down on. Maybe one “benefit” of the
COVID-quarantine is that streaming companies may not care about that as much for now.
The other way people stream for free is to use those excellent free
trials. Most last only about a week; 55 percent of respondents said they’ve used a
trial but not signed up for the service. Another COVID-19 inspired piece of “altruism”
is that some services are raising their trial period to a full 30 days. All the more time to try it free and never
actually sign up.
