Netflix is still growing wildly, but its market share has fallen to an estimated 19% as new competitors emerge
- Netflix's global market share of over-the-top streaming video subscriptions has dropped from 91% in 2007 to 19% last year, according to research company Ampere Analysis.
- Ampere Analysis projects Netflix's market share to drop to 18% by the end of this year.
- Streaming competitors have emerged to take a bite of Netflix's dominance, but it's still growing internationally - it exceeded expectations and added over 8 million subscribers outside the US in the fourth quarter of 2019.
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Netflix is still growing wildly internationally, even though its market share of global video subscriptions has dropped over time.
Research company Ampere Analysis provided Business Insider with data that shows how Netflix's global market share of over-the-top video subscriptions has fallen from a whopping 91% in 2007 to 19% in 2019. Ampere projects that it could drop to 18% by the end of this year.
Of course, Netflix was a lone wolf in 2007, when it offered a streaming component that was limited compared to its DVD service. It separated its DVD and streaming services in 2011 and two year later, debuted its flagship original shows, "House of Cards" and "Orange Is the New Black."
Over time, streaming competitors have emerged to take a bite out of the market share of subscribers. For instance, Chinese tech giant Tencent is a leader in video content in China, where Netflix can't operate without a local partner.
But that doesn't mean Netflix isn't growing. In its 2019 Q4 earnings report this week, the company said that it added 8.3 million subscribers outside of the US, exceeding expectations. It did, however, come in below its forecast in the US as the competitor Disney Plus launched, adding 420,000 paid net subscribers.
Overall, Netflix now has 167 million subscribers worldwide and 60 million in the US. That puts it in the No. 1 spot by a mile. Disney hasn't announced Disney Plus' total subscribers so far, but it said the service gained 10 million sign-ups in its first day. Hulu has made strides in the US and had 28 million subscribers as of May. CBS All Access and Showtime have a combined 10 million subscribers as of this month.
Below is the percentage of Netflix's OTT subscription market share every year since 2007, according to Ampere Analysis, including the company's 2020 projection:
- 2007 - 91% (Netflix launches a streaming option, but it's not as robust as its DVD offering)
- 2008 -96%
- 2009 - 87%
- 2010 - 81%
- 2011 - 75% (Netflix splits its streaming and DVD options)
- 2012 - 66%
- 2013 - 60% (two of Netflix's flagship original shows, "House of Cards" and "Orange Is the New Black," debut)
- 2014 -52%
- 2015 - 43%
- 2016 - 31%
- 2017 - 26%
- 2018 - 23%
- 2019 - 19% (Netflix raises prices for all US subscribers by 13% to 18%, its biggest increase)
- 2020 - 18%
Below are those numbers broken down into a chart:
Netflix had the highest percentage of happy employees in a recent survey. See our coverage of how to get a job interview at the streaming company on BI Prime:
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