Netflix watched by more than half of Americans, but HBO offers most popular content

A recent survey found that more than half of Americans use Netflix to stream content, though the streaming video on demand (SVOD) provider trails HBO in terms of original content demand, according to another study.

RBC Capital Markets found that 51 percent of Americans are using Netflix for their streaming needs, but separate research by Parrot Analytics named HBO as the most popular original content producer in the U.S., UK and Australia, thanks to its smash-hit Game of Thrones.

The Parrot study ranked five original offerings each from HBO, Netflix and Amazon on a scale of zero to 100+ "culled from streaming sites, social media platforms, photo-sharing, peer-to-peer protocols, blogs, file-sharing platforms, wikis and informational sites and fan and critic rating sites," according to ScreenDaily. In the U.S., Game of Thrones alone scored a demand rating of 86.38 (the highest of any of the 15 shows analyzed by Parrot), with Netflix pulling in 64.02 and HBO in general pulling 68.70. Amazon trailed far behind its competitors in all markets, with a demand rating of 43.09 in the U.S.

In the UK, Amazon scored 46.87 as compared to Netflix's 64.25 and HBO's 68.26. In Australia, Amazon again fell behind with a score of 46.83 in relation to a Netflix score of 65.53 and HBO score of 69.69.

However, when discounting HBO's demand powerhouse Game of Thrones, Parrot's study found Netflix and HBO were neck-and-neck in popularity. After GoT, the remaining top five most popular slots in each country were occupied by a combination of HBO and Netflix options including Narcos, Orange is the New Black and Silicon Valley.

Regardless, RBC's study found that Netflix use far outstrips HBO Go, Hulu and even YouTube in terms of streaming video. The firm attributed that gap to original content production, which it said is also helping Netflix make strides globally in addition to its domination stateside.

"Netflix's original content has played a big role in its gaining traction overseas," said a Fortune article, naming House of Cards as an original offering watched by the majority of consumers in both France and Germany. "As of the end of September, Netflix said it had 43 million U.S. subscribers and another 26 million internationally."

For more:
ScreenDaily has this article
- see this Advanced Television article
- see this Fortune article
- Conviva has this study

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