Finally, Some Actual Netflix Viewer Data
ComScore report breaks down viewership trends
ComScore has been busy: The data measurement company released a report on digital viewership trends gleaned from a survey of 1,159 users, and among the data are some fascinating stats on Netflix, a company whose internal metrics are shrouded in near-total secrecy. Without further ado:
- If you subscribe to a video service, you're more likely to time-shift. Time-shifted viewing is the bane of network programmers' existence since it usually cuts out commercials (in 2007, the cable industry tried to strangle the nascent technology altogether and failed). But the comScore report notes you're much more likely—45 percent of respondents with Netflix and 27 percent of non-Netflixing respondents—to watch your favorite show when you feel like it instead of when it's on TV. You're also more likely to binge-watch, but viewers overwhelmingly prefer to binge on their TV screens than on tablets or smartphones.
- Of those surveyed, 32 percent subscribed to Netflix. Among millennials, it was closer to 50 percent. Nineteen percent had Hulu, and 9 percent had Amazon Prime.
- Forty-four percent of Netflix users watch through a bridge device like Chromecast. The rest used computers (27 percent) and gaming consoles/connected Blu-ray players (21 percent). Presumably the remaining few used smartphones or tablets.
- If you have kids, you're more likely to have a Netflix subscription. Netflix reached 25 percent of households with one to two people, and 40 percent of households with more than three.
