According to a new report from eMarketer, Netflix is still the No. 1 subscription streaming service in the U.S. However, rivals like Amazon Prime Video and Hulu are starting to impact Netflix’s market share.
The expert firm predicts that nearly 182.5 million or 53.3% of the population U.S. customers will subscribe to at least one other streaming service provider, besides Netflix.
That being said, with 158.8 million viewers and counting in 2019, Netflix is still the clear winner! But, not for long. Even though the subscribers of this streaming service increases, its total share in the over-the-top subscription market will decline, according to the report.
This report was published shortly after Netflix announced its first drop in U.S. users after nearly a decade. This news surely did come as a shock, as eMarketer had reported mid-2018 that Netflix would see strong growth through the rest of the year by nearly 7.6%. eMarketer was quite sure in this growth hike due to the release of new seasons of popular shows like Stranger Things & Orange Is The New Black, along with the Academy-winning director Martin Scorsese’s new movie, “The Irishman”.
What Changed?
While Netflix does have a very strong library of content, it is not the only choice for streaming online videos anymore. Back in 2014, Netflix owned 90% of the market share, but in 2019, it’s share has reduced to 87%.
It is speculated that this reducting is due to the rise of competing services like Amazon Prime and Hulu.
Despite being relatively new, Hulu is projected to achieve 75.8 million U.S. viewers or about 41.5% of subscription service users this year. However, Hulu’s growth has seen a decline in 2019, with a growth rate of 17.5% as compared to 2018’s 49.6%.
On the other hand, Amazon’s Prime Video is the closest to competing with Netflix and currently holds the second position spot. As of 2019, Prime has around 96.5 million viewers and has seen an increase in growth rate this compared to 2018 by 8.8%.
Prime has estimated that will achieve a third of the U.S. residents by 2021.
Upcoming Competition
Netflix’s market share supremacy is going to face new risks as well, especially from the Disney-Hulu-ESPN bundle, which is evaluated the same as a typical U.S. Netflix subscription.
Disney is not the only one who has a new streaming service in the run.
NBCUniversal and AT&T WarnerMedia are also ready to compete in the market, the latter with HBO Max.
And lastly, trailing the CBS-Viacom merger, the merged company is looking to beef up its platforms.
To survive this race and maintain its position, Netflix needs to move fast and release interesting features that will help it stand out from the others.
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Image Courtesy: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Now
