• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, December 14, 2011

Video streaming on game consoles is on the rise as people increasingly spending time watching services like Netflix, Hulu, MLB Network and ESPN3 on the devices. According to new Nielsen data based on an October survey, streaming on Xbox 360 now accounts for 14% of time spent, up from 10% last year, 15% on PlayStation 3 (up from 9%), and a full third of time on the Nintendo Wii (up from 20%). That comes out to a 7% increase on average across all three systems.

“Taken together, these findings suggest that streaming is incrementally adding to the time users are spending with consoles,” stated a Nielsen blog post today.

The research firm noted that each game platform still maintains distinct usage characteristics: Xbox 360 is most notable for online gaming (34% of time spent), PlayStation 3 for DVD / Blu-Ray viewing (22%), while the Wii is stands out for offline gaming (55%).