Netflix, the subscription-video service, is now the most popular platform for watching movies on TV, ahead of traditional cable and broadcast TV networks as well as YouTube and Hulu, according to a survey of U.S. consumers by Wall Street firm Cowen & Co.
For the survey of 2,500 U.S. adults conducted in May, Cowen & Co. asked, “Which platforms do you use most often to view video content on TV?” Netflix was the No. 1 with 27% of total respondents, followed by basic cable at 20%, broadcast at 18% and YouTube at 11%.
For adults 18-34, Netflix’s lead is even more significant: 40% of those in the younger demo said Netflix is the platform they use most often to view video content on their TVs — well ahead of YouTube (17%), basic cable (12.6%), Hulu (7.6%) and broadcast TV (7.5%).
“Assuming Netflix is able to continue to increasingly offer great content, this lead clearly bodes well for further value creation,” Cowen & Co. analysts wrote in a research note Tuesday.
Netflix continues to send huge amounts of money on original content–$13 billion on content in 2018, Cowen & Co. estimates. Netflix has projected content spending for the year of up to $8 billion on a profit/loss basis.
In the second quarter of 2018, Netflix released around 452 hours of U.S. original programming, up 51% year-over-year but actually slightly under the company’s record output of 483 hours in Q1 2018.
Netflix Originals
In Q2, Netflix’s originals slate included “Thirteen Reasons Why” season 2, “Luke Cage” season 2, and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” season 4, in addition to the reboot of “Lost in Space” and second seasons of drug war docu-series “Dope” and Brazilian dystopian series “3%.”
