Netflix Streaming Volume Up 350 Percent

PLANO: Netflix streaming has increased 350 percent over the last ten quarters, according to research from The Diffusion Group (TDG), increasing from 2 billion hours in Q4 2011 to 7 billion hours as of Q2 2014.

In the U.S., total streaming among subscribers was up from 1.8 billion hours in Q4 2011 to 5.1 billion hours in Q2 2014; that's almost triple. Total international streaming grew from 0.2 million hours in Q4 2011 to 1.9 million hours in Q2 2014, a tenfold increase.

While the rate of international streaming growth has outpaced that of U.S. streaming, the domestic consumption is still the largest majority of the total worldwide streaming hours. In Q3 2011, domestic Netflix subs represented 94 percent of the worldwide total. In Q2 2014, the U.S. share declined to 72 percent. This downward trend will continue as Netflix fulfills its international expansion strategy.

“When Netflix first launched in 1998 as an innovative DVD-by-mail subscription service it would have been difficult to imagine that, not only would it pass HBO to become the largest premium TV/movie subscription in the U.S., but that it would be ramping up a formidable international streaming business,” said Bill Niemeyer, TDG's senior adviser and author of the new report. Niemeyer says this is all the more remarkable given that Netflix launched its Internet streaming service only seven years ago, in 2007.