Netflix lovers love their Netflix -- a lot.
Not only is the service adding subscribers by leaps and bounds, but its users are gobbling up more programming than ever. A survey of regular
Netflix users said they watch 10 shows per week on Netflix and four movies. That’s a rise from five shows per week three years ago, according to the research firm GfK, which conducted the study.
Much of the new viewing is occurring on mobile screens,
since mobile viewing has more than doubled in three years. Now, 24% of regular Netflix viewers have watched on a mobile device in the past month, GfK says. Consumers are also viewing Netflix more
frequently on TVs, such as connected TVs. That type of viewing has risen from 36% to 47% for regular users. PC viewing is up, too, from 17% to 25%.
The takeaway from these figures? Netflix is
a force in the TV business and also a “TV ecosystem unto itself,” GFK says.
As Netflix continues to spread its reach and become indispensable with consumers, expect traditional
networks to adapt, says IHS Technology in related research. Netflix’s growth as
well as its content acquisitions plans may spur more traditional networks to go direct in TV Everywhere style or via online streaming, IHS says. IHS predicts Netflix will count more than 100 million
subscribers globally by 2018, a growth of 22%.