According to the NPD Group, in 2019, consumers watched about 20 minutes more streamed TV content per week on Netflix than they did in 2018. Weekly time spent watching the top two subscription video on demand (SVOD) services rose 7%, growing from 3 hours 45 minutes in 2018 to 4 hours 6 minutes in 2019, NPD says.
Even with new subscription video services launching, audiences are still finding content they want to watch on the major SVOD services they already have. Some 99.5% of consumers with subscriptions to Netflix and Hulu viewed at least one title in a given month in 2019.
"When people try new services, like Disney Plus or Apple TV Plus, very few are cutting back on the existing major platforms," said Kathi Chandler-Payatt, media entertainment analyst for NPD.
While action and adventure, family, animation and superhero movies are some of the top SVOD movie genres every year, in 2019 viewers added science fiction dramas, courtroom dramas, and cyberpunk among other subgenres to the mix. The amount of time watched for all three of those subgenres has increased each year since 2017.
Original TV shows on Netflix made up more than 40% of all content watched by either kids or adults, compared to 10% for Hulu Originals.
"This year will likely be the tipping point when more than half of Netflix content will be original," Chandler-Payatt said.