Nielsen: Streaming Video Reaches Milestone

In what Nielsen is describing as an “important milestone in US media,” as many homes have access to a streaming video on demand (SVOD) service — such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu == as have a DVR.

The audience measurement company’s first-quarter 2016 Total Audience Report revealed that SVOD penetration has reached half of households, the same percentage that have a DVR.

SVOD’s market share has been growing steadily over the past year, and nearly 30% of households “have a both DVR and access to SVOD—up nearly 20% from last year,” said Nielsen.

A small percentage of users seems to be driving consumption of video on digital devices, with the top 20% of users accounting for 83% of smartphone video viewing, 87% of in-home PC streaming and 71% of TV-connected devices. Consumers are also spending more time viewing content on these devices, with daily usage increases of 63% for tablets and 60% for smartphones among adults since last year. The report also found that daily usage of tablets is up 12 minutes, with smartphones increasing by 37 minutes per day.

Streaming video, it appears, is fast becoming commonplace.