Houten, The Netherlands, 14 April 2015 - Netflix is by far the most popular over-the-top (OTT*) video service in the Netherlands. More than one in ten (11%) Dutch households had a Netflix subscription in Q4 2014; this is equal to 865,000 households. As each Netflix subscription can be used on several devices, the total number of users is more than 865,000. Dutch OTT video services Videoland Unlimited and NLziet are less popular, and only have a fraction of the subscription numbers Netflix has, according to independent market researcher Telecompaper.
A quarter of all Netflix customers are still in their free trial. Nevertheless Netflix seems well able to convert customers to a paid subscription, judging by its growing subscriber numbers. Its market share should increase further, as 6 percent of Dutch consumers said they are interested in subscribing to Netflix within the next six months.
The figures come from a
survey of 6,200 Dutch consumers aged 12-80 during the fourth quarter of 2014 by the Telecompaper Consumer Panel. The survey also found that just under half (49%) of Dutch households have at least one TV connected to the internet. This is often through a smart TV, and many connect a laptop to the TV or stream content via a Chromecast or Apple TV.
In Q4 2014, more than half the time spent watching video content was not live TV (linear broadcasting). Online video (eg YouTube) accounted for 10 percent of viewing time and downloaded or DVD content accounted for 11 percent. For younger people under 20, these percentages rise to almost 20 percent of the time. They spend less than 30 percent of their video time on watching live TV.
The growing number of smartphones and tablets in Dutch homes is also impacting video viewing behaviour. Most of the time Dutch consumers still use a TV for watching video content. However, younger age groups are increasingly consuming video via ‘new’ devices: 12-19 year olds watch on average 107 minutes a day of video content via mobile devices (smartphone, tablet and laptop).
Dutch households without a TV subscription through a broadcast provider (‘cord cutters’ - less than 3% of all households) more often are subscribed to OTT video services. This is especially true for Nlziet; cord cutters were 7 times more likely to subscribe to NLziet than households with TV subscriptions.
Note to editors
The above research is available in the report ‘
Dutch Consumer Video Behaviour Q4 2014’. The report includes extensive information on video consumers, their devices and subscription services, and time spent on TV and OTT content. In the report the following theme channels and OTT video services are included: Netflix, Film1, Sport1, HBO, FOX Sports, NLziet, Videoland Unlimited, MyPrime and plus packages offered via broadcast providers. The full report is now available for EUR 3,000.
*= OTT services are delivered via the internet, rather than through a traditional TV subscription.