Amazon gains on Netflix in OTT market
November 5, 2012
Findings from independent survey research firm 451 Research’s ChangeWave service show that while Netflix leads among ‘paid alternative TV providers’, the Amazon Instant Video service is making big gains among consumers.din
“While Netflix still holds the largest share by far of the paid alternative TV market, consumers continue to shift towards Amazon’s Instant Video service,” said Andy Golub of 451 Research’s ChangeWave service. “As Amazon’s TV and movie content becomes more competitive with Netflix, its popularity is surging among consumers.”
The September survey of 1,115 North American consumers also looked at the leading Internet-connected devices people are now using to stream video.
In terms of competition among what ChangeWave terms ‘Paid Alternative TV Providers’, despite declining since the previous survey in February, Netflix (82 per cent; down 2-pts) continues to hold the lead among respondents who pay for online video. But Amazon Instant Video (22 per cent) has surged 5-pts and increased its share over iTunes (16 per cent) and Hulu Plus (8 per cent).
Online movie distribution channel EPIX, which used to be available exclusively to Netflix subscribers, recently became available on Amazon Instant Video – and 17 per cent of Netflix subscribers say this makes them ‘More Likely’ to cancel their Netflix subscription. Compounding matters, 18 per cent of Netflix subscribers say they now also pay for Amazon Instant Video – up 4-pts since the previous survey.
In terms of customer satisfaction with paid providers, iTunes still has the highest ‘Very Satisfied’ rating among paid alternative TV providers (35 per cent), with Netflix (23 per cent), Amazon (22 per cent) and Hulu Plus (20 per cent) bunched together in the second tier.
ChangeWave also notes that the iPad (32 per cent; up 7-pts) is now the number one Internet-connected device among respondents who own a gadget that allows them to stream video content. Moreover, it’s showing the greatest growth of any Internet-connected device. Blu-ray Players (31 per cent; down 2-pts) are the second most used device, followed by iPhones (25 per cent; up 5-pts) and Video Game Consoles (24 per cent; down 1-pt) – while Apple TV (13 per cent; up 4-pts) and Roku (13 per cent; up 4-pts) have both seen increases since the previous survey.