• by Aaron Baar , June 4, 2013

Despite (or perhaps because of) its highly publicized shift into more streaming content and fewer mailed DVDs, Netflix is the clear leader when it comes to subscription video-on-demand services.

According to The NPD Group, Netflix commands an 89% share when it comes to streamed television programming (which accounts for 80% of all streamed subscription video). By comparison, Hulu Plus accounted for a 10% share, while Amazon Prime only held about 2% of the overall TV units streamed. The question, it seems, is: “Can anyone catch Netflix?”

“Tomorrow? That’s not likely. Sometime in the future? Maybe.” Russ Crupnick, senior vice president of industry analysis at NPD, tells Marketing Daily. “We’re in the early days of all of this. Even though Netflix has 30 million subscribers in the U.S., there’s a lot of untapped territory.”

Indeed, Netflix is seeing some encroachment on its leadership. For the first quarter of 2013, 67% of subscribers of video-on-demand services streamed content only from Netflix, down from 76% from the same period in 2012. Ten percent of users streamed from both Netflix and Amazon Prime, while 8% streamed from Netflix and Hulu.

Still, it might take a lot for one of those other companies from unseating Netflix as the dominant video streaming brand, Crupnick says. The company has spent considerable time and investment (including the development and promotion of its original programming) building its brand among consumers.

“They’re very effective in promoting their brand. They have been since the DVD days. And it’s a good service. We do customer tracking and people are always satisfied with their search and programming,” Crupnick says. “You would assume as long as interest in streaming continues to grow, and as long as they’re programming -- and they’re investing a lot in that -- they may remain the leader for a long time."