Netflix"s streaming video division gives its millions of users access to thousands of movies and tons of TV seasons and episodes. However despite Netflix allowing access to its streaming service on a wide variety of devices its looks like the most popular way to watch videos on the service is on video game consoles. According to a new study by Nielsen, half of Netflix users watch on an Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or a Wii console. Microsoft led the way by offering Netflix"s streaming service on the Xbox 360 in 2008 followed by the Playstation 3 in 2009 and the Wii in 2010. Just a few days ago the Nintendo 3DS became the fourth game console to support Netflix streaming. The study showed that the Wii is the top console for users to watch Netflix with 25 percent followed by the PS3 with 13 percent and the Xbox 360 with 12 percent.
Other Netflix supported devices are not as popular. Nielsen"s survey, which allowed its participants to pick more than one device, showed that 11 percent its users watched the service via an Internet collected Blu-Ray player. Only 3 percent watch Netflix via the iPad.
By contrast one of Netflix"s biggest competitors, Hulu Plus, is viewed mostly by people watching the streaming video on the PC. Nielsen states that 89 percent of Hulu Plus users watch on their PC compared to 42 percent of Netflix users. In terms of the content that views watch, Netflix seems to have more movie lovers with 53 percent of its users watching its feature film line up. By contract Hulu Plus, which to be fair has a much bigger ratio of TV episodes to watch in comparison to its movie library, has 73 percent of its users watching TV shows.