US SVOD hits 40%, Amazon gains ground

Four in ten homes in the US have an SVOD service, according to new research from ratings firm Nielsen.

Netflix is the clear leader with 36% of US homes taking it, but Amazon Prime Instant Video, which is in 13.6% of homes, is gaining ground.

Nielsen does not provide a year-on-year comparison but Amazon’s share is thought to have grown sharply off the back of the success of heavy marketing and investment in originals, including the award-winning series Transparent (pictured).

Nielsen’s data, which measured usage as of last November, showed 6.5% of homes had Hulu Plus, the premium version of the Hulu streaming service. The research house noted that 13% of US homes had more than one streaming service.

“Increasing consumer time and attention creates opportunities for content owners,” said Dounia Turrill, Nielsen’s senior VP, insights.

“However, economics in digitalremain challenging for all but a few. The landscape has created new competitors – akin to a modern day gold rush – for traditional video and audio, with the emergence of arelatively small number of digital leaders, all of whom are looking not just to compete, but to stake a claim and prosper in that space.