Citi study shows Netflix stil in comfortable lead

A new Citi Investment Research study from analyst Mike Mahaney points to Netflix still increasing its share of Internet movie and TV viewing. Between May and December, Netflix's share of those watching movies on TV grew from 20 to 27 percent. Most of that came at the expense of Hulu, which was down from 19 percent to 15.

Most providers, including Amazon, Comcast, CBS, and NBC, were also up significantly. ABC was down, however. iTunes was almost exactly flat at eight percent, being outranked not just by Netflix and Hulu but ABC, Amazon's Instant Video, CBS, and "other."

The Netflix share grew even as the provider made a number of big missteps, such as raising prices for some viewers and its short-lived, ill-received plans for the Qwikster spinoff. Those "extremely satisifed" with Netflix plunged from 50 percent to 18, but the number of those either "very" or "moderately" happy went up, showing that most who were upset at the Netflix decisions weren't angered enough to have serious thoughts of leaving the service.

Most had even cooperated with what Netflix wanted. About 54 percent had made no changes to any of their plans, while 28 percent dropped DVDs and Blu-rays in favor of the streaming Netflix prefers. Eight percent preferred to go DVD-only, suggesting that just 10 percent had either stepped up their plans or cancelled.

The share split suggested that Apple needed to significantly revise its strategy if it wanted to court movie and TV viewers more used to subscriptions. Of the group, it was the only one using pay-per-show exclusively. Most had at least some kind of subscription service or, in the cases of Hulu and studio sites, gave at least limited access for free in return for ads. [via TechCrunch]

By Electronista Staff