Julia Stoll
Research expert covering TV and video media
Netflix usage in the United States - statistics & facts
Netflix remains 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, around two-thirds of Americans nowadays聽watch Netflix content on a weekly basis. However, the U.S. and Canada have forfeited their spot as Netflix's largest markets, with the EMEA region now reporting the highest number of paying subscribers. What steps is the company taking to retain viewers in today's crowded streaming landscape?
How Netflix combats subscription fatigue in a competitive market
The video streaming penetration rate in the U.S. stands at over 70 percent, highlighting the high saturation of the streaming market in the country. Data also shows that Netflix added fewer new subscribers than, for example, Prime Video, which recently outpaced Netflix in terms of the聽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 in 2023. This move seemed to have paid off - after losing a considerable number of customers in 2022, Netflix won back and grew its subscriber base every single quarter since the start of this new feature.Furthermore, the platform introduced an ad-based subscription tier at lower rates to draw viewers and secure its position in the market. In fact, Netflix's ad-supported plan now accounts for about half of all new subscriptions to the streaming service.
What are audiences watching on Netflix?
The provider remains the most well-known video streaming service in the United States. One of the service鈥檚 main appeals is its catalog of original programming and IPs, which is the users鈥 preferred content type on Netflix. Own productions like "Bridgerton," "Stranger Things," and "Love Is Blind" are regularly among the most聽viewed original TV series on SVOD services in the U.S. The year 2025 also brought two of Netflix's hits - the critically acclaimed series "Adolescence" and the U.S.-produced movie "KPop Demon Hunters" were watched by millions of viewers around the globe, securing the top spots in the company's rankings of most-watched content of all time.聽
With the U.S. no longer being its largest market, Netflix recently addressed subscription fatigue by introducing charges for account sharing and an ad-based subscription tier, both resulting in an increase in the number of customers. Additionally, now that the first Netflix House has opened this year, audiences can step directly into the universe of their favorite Netflix stories, taking the fan experience to a new level.
