Ampere Analysis this week published its latest research on the online video market, showing that while YouTube continues to dominate the segment, Netflix has grown strongly and extended its lead over Facebook.
Ampere’s research shows that just about every single internet user in the world was “likely” to have viewed at least one video on YouTube in the last month. That’s not a surprise considering the Google-owned service is the most prominent online video platform in every country in the world, with just two exceptions – in the U.K., where the BBC iPlayer is king, and in China, where iQIYI rules the roost.
More interesting though is the growth of Netflix, which in the last month extended its lead over Facebook as the second most popular online video service. Ampere said Netflix has grown considerably in the last few years, with its viewership increasing from 22% of internet users in the third quarter of 2016 to 39% of the internet today. Amazon’s Prime service also grew by nine percentage points over the same period, whereas Facebook actually saw its share decline from 28% in 2016 to just 27% today.
YouTube also saw a slight decline, from 70% three years ago to just 63% this year.
In another interesting stat, Ampere said European internet users are much more likely to have viewed a catch-up TV service than their counterparts in the U.S. Overall SVOD viewership was higher in the US but there was little difference when it came to social video.
“YouTube’s global dominance in this space is evident in its monthly usage,” Ampere Analysis consumer research lead Minal Modha said in a statement. “The differences in viewing between the USA and Europe in relation to catch up and SVOD services is interesting because it shows that SVOD providers will have to work harder in Europe to grow their share as they take on traditional TV channels’ catch-up services. This could be through their catalogue, price-points or communications strategy.”
