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For the First Time, More US Households Have Netflix Than a DVR (variety.com)
For the first time, U.S. households with the Netflix video-streaming service outnumber those that own a digital video recorder (DVR), a dramatic rise from just five years ago, according to new data. From a report: About 54% of U.S. adults said they have Netflix in their household -- while 53% have a DVR, according to Research Group's annual on-demand study. It's the first time that households with Netflix have surpassed the level of those with a DVR in the history of LRG's studies. In 2011, according to the research firm, 44% of TV households had a DVR and 28% had Netflix. Netflix has now eclipsed DVR usage despite the latter having a years-long head start. TiVo's first digital video recorder shipped in 1999, while Netflix debuted its video-streaming service in 2007 and started the shift away from its DVD-by-mail business. As of the end of 2016, Netflix had 49.4 million streaming subscribers in the U.S., up 10.5% year over year.
Netflix: $8 a month
DVR Rental: $12 a month
And if you use something like a Roku to get your Netflix, DVR content seems totally insignificant by comparison. Because if Netflix isn't enough, there are dozens of other popular channels at (mostly) reasonable prices.
DVR+cable is not only atrociously more expensive than Netflix, but Netflix can deliver anything in its online library any time you want it (allowing for library turnover). With a DVR, you have to set up the capture in advance, and you're limited to what someone else chooses to push your way. Many of the most popular cable channels have only a handful of programs a month - they simply cycle through them. Plus the cable bundling deal means that you end up having to pay fat fees when you maybe only want to watch one or 2 of the offered channels.