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Average Netflix user streams 6.4 hours a week, not a cord cutter: report

By: Michael Oliveira, The Canadian Press

Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 at 11:28 AM | Comments: 0

TORONTO - Canadian Netflix users stream an average of about an hour a day, watch another half hour's worth of content online, and catch another hour and a half of broadcast TV, suggests a study.

Most Netflix customers are not so-called cord cutters — a term to describe consumers who have cancelled their cable or satellite plan in favour of other content options — according to the report by the Media Technology Monitor, based on surveys with thousands of Canadians.

In fact, Netflix users were found to be more likely than other consumers to shell out for a premium TV package, even while paying $8 a month for the streaming service.

MTM estimated that about one in five anglophones were subscribing to Netflix in the fall, while only about five per cent of francophones had the digital service. Users were watching an average of 6.4 hours of Netflix content per week, according to the report.

Netflix subscribers appeared to be watching less TV on cable and satellite, tuning in for about 11.3 hours per week compared to the 14.9 hours that non-users were watching. But when adding their Netflix streams and other TV content viewed online, they watched an average of more than 22 hours a week, well above the almost 16 hours for non-Netflix users.

While 31 per cent of anglophone consumers said they pay extra for a premium TV package, the figure was 36 per cent among Netflix subscribers.

The report also suggests that while most Netflix users are gadget lovers, they don't do much viewing on smaller screens.

Just under half of Netflix subscribers said they owned a tablet and 81 per cent had a smartphone. Still, when asked what devices they used to watch Netflix, 83 per cent said a TV, 47 per cent said a computer, only 20 per cent said a tablet and 16 per cent sometimes watched on a smartphone.

In terms of how Netflix viewers divvied up their 6.4 hours a week of viewing, the report suggests that about two-thirds of the time was on TV sets, 27 per cent on computers, and four per cent each on tablets and smartphones.

As for demographics, 29 per cent of consumers aged 18 to 34 said they were Netflix users, closely followed by 27 per cent of those aged 35 to 49. Only 14 per cent of consumers aged 50 to 64 and four per cent of those 65 and older had bought into Netflix.

Parents were also identified as big subscribers of Netflix. Almost one in three households with children under 12 were estimated to have a Netflix subscription, while the figure was 36 per cent in homes where teenagers lived.

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