Julia Stoll
Research expert covering TV and video media
Netflix usage in the United States - statistics & facts
Netflix has long remained the undisputed champion and blueprint of online video streaming in the United States. After more than two decades of unparalleled growth across its most lucrative market, however, the streaming giant suffered a substantial blow to its audience size recently. According to a survey conducted in 2024, the share of weekly Netflix users in the U.S. dropped to 61.8 percent. Furthermore, the U.S. and Canada have forfeited their spot as Netflix's largest market, with the EMEA region now reporting the highest number of paying subscribers. But why did U.S. viewers branch off, and what steps is the company taking to retain viewers in today's crowded streaming landscape?
With the U.S. being no longer its largest market, Netflix recently address subscription fatigue by for example introducing charges for account-sharing and an ad-based subscription tier, which resulted in an increase in ad-supported users. Furthermore, while Netflix originals remain popular, it became clear that providing licensed content could be another retention driver for the streaming company.
How Netflix combats subscriber loss in a competitive market
The subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) penetration rate in the U.S. stands at over 80 percent, highlighting the high saturation of the streaming market in the country. Data also showed that Netflix added fewer new subscribers than for example Prime Video in recent years, and in the third quarter of 2024, Amazon Prime Video outpaced Netflix in terms of the market share of SVOD services in the U.S. To turn this trend around and leverage the vast pool of non-paying Netflix users, the company started to charge for account-sharing features in 2023. This move seemed to have paid off - eight percent of interviewed U.S. streaming viewers reported accessing Netflix via password sharing without subscribing to the service themselves, down from 11 percent reported the same in the second quarter of 2023. Netflix also introduced an ad-based subscription tier at lower rates to draw viewers and secure its position in the market. In fact, the number of monthly active ad-supported Netflix users worldwide increased to 40 million as of May 2024.What are audiences watching on Netflix?
Despite the challenges Netflix faces in its home market, the provider remains the most known video streaming service in the United States. One of the service’s main appeals is its catalog of original programming, which is the users’ preferred content type on Netflix. In 2023, own productions like "The Night Agent" and "Ginny & Georgia" belonged the most viewed original TV series on SVOD services in the U.S. However, Netflix also recently benefitted a lot from offering acquired TV shows. In 2023, American consumers watched billions of minutes of episodes from older series, such “Suits” and “NCIS” on the platform.With the U.S. being no longer its largest market, Netflix recently address subscription fatigue by for example introducing charges for account-sharing and an ad-based subscription tier, which resulted in an increase in ad-supported users. Furthermore, while Netflix originals remain popular, it became clear that providing licensed content could be another retention driver for the streaming company.
