Netflix might have doubled its Canadian subscriber base in the past year, according to a recently released report.
Research by the Media Technology Monitor, based on surveys with 2,013 adults between March 6 and April 14, suggests about 25% of anglophone Canadians had signed up for the video streaming service. That’s up from 13% in the spring of 2012.
The results are considered accurate within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
About 84% of the respondents who used Netflix said they typically watched at least one movie or TV show on the streaming service every week.
About 8% of the consumers polled said they had tried Netflix at some point but decided the service wasn’t for them. Just under half of them had never paid for Netflix but used a free trial and never followed up to subscribe.
A perceived lack of quality content was the most common reason given for cancelling Netflix, with 36 per cent saying there wasn’t enough to watch. About 28% said they weren’t using the service enough to justify the monthly fee, 11% thought the $8 price was too expensive, 7% said they were “just checking it out,” 5% had technical issues, and three per cent moved residences and quit.
The highest proportions of Netflix users were found out West. About 40% of the consumers polled in Saskatchewan and 31% of Albertans said they used Netflix. Edmonton had the highest per capita rate of Netflix users among Canada’s biggest cities with 37% of the consumers polled there saying they used the site.
Netflix was also particularly popular with parents. About 37% of the households with kids under 12 had a Netflix subscription, while there was a subscriber in about a third of the homes where teens lived.
Netflix, which launched in Canada in September 2010, no longer discloses how many Canadian customers it has. It last reported it had reached one million subscribers in August 2011.
