Despite some recent research claims stating otherwise, Netflix remains far and away the most engaged-with subscription streaming service in the U.S., garnering more than twice as much usage than the next-closest platform, Disney Plus, in the second quarter.
This data comes from equity research firm MoffettNathanson's Q2 All Things Streaming report, which was assembled with an assist from HarrisX, using data from 20,674 survey respondents from April through June.
According to the report, only free, ad-supported YouTube (excluding YouTube TV) surpassed Netflix in streaming minutes delivered in the U.S. during the second quarter.
The Disney Bundle, which rolls up Disney Plus with Hulu and ESPN Plus, is the only other entity that approaches Netflix’s level of usage.
Netflix appears to be mired in a viewership slump. Last week, for example, its 10 most-watched English-language series yielded 200,000 million fewer viewing hours when compared to the comparable cohort from the same July week of 2022.
But as the latest MoffettNathanson/HarrisX collaboration shows, Netflix is still far and away the most utilized subscription streaming service in America. Fifty-five percent of households report at least one resident who uses the service.
The All Things Streaming Q2 report also measured U.S. household usage for "Tier 2" SVOD services. There are some interesting findings here.
For one: the fast-growing uptake arc for Paramount Plus, which was the last of the big "Streaming Wars" launches but has quickly risen to penetration of 25% of U.S. households.
Second is the utter stagnation of Max. Maybe Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s proclamation that Max users weren't going to miss what his group has removed from the premium-priced platform is wrong?
Finally, amid a bounty of information about the U.S. streaming market, the report had this surprising finding — a year ago, when we concluded that the U.S. streaming market was saturated post-pandemic, we weren't right.
Penetration is 3% year over year to 84%, with older consumers now starting to adopt streaming.
