• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 19, 2013

Networks looking to capture more dollars from Netflix and Amazon Prime appear to have a lot of runway ahead, according to new research. GfK data shows Netflix users preferred TV content to movies by a 77% to 23% margin. Amazon Prime had a greater spread at 79% to 21%.

Since Hulu is loaded with recently aired TV episodes, it’s not surprising TV dominated there at 96%.

Overall for the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services, TV dominated by about 81% to 19%. The research looked at some 2,300 viewing segments and the methodology had more than 500 subscribers to one or more of the services detailing their viewing habits once a day for a one-week period.

Netflix has maintained that no one piece of content accounts for a massive amount of its viewing and the research seems to validate that. It found the “Star Trek” catalog received the most mentions at 4% of all the segments, with only “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men” also passing the 3% barrier. All other programs were 2% or lower.

For the top-10 movies, only “The Hunger Games” topped 2% at 7%. Others, though, in the top 10 were “Mission: Impossible,” “A Dark truth” and “Thor.”

David Tice, a GfK senior vice president, stated: “We see that, contrary to broadcast TV’s ‘mass’ audience model, streaming services generate episodic, niche viewing --  more broad and unpredictable than even the 200 channels on your cable TV menu. These services provide the control and multiplicity of choice that consumers crave and the result is very individual behavior.”

The report also found that a significant amount of SVOD viewing takes place on an Internet-connected TV device, including gaming consoles, Blu-ray players and other devices.

Also, SVOD services don’t spark material levels of cord-cutting, but with consumption levels high, may be cutting into ad dollars on other TV outlets.

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