YouTube breathing down Netflix’s neck in streaming war

In the fight for America’s attention, Netflix Inc’s closest streaming competitor isn’t Amazon or Hulu. It’s YouTube. That’s according to a report from measurement firm Nielsen, which found that consumers spent 19% of their TV viewing time on a streaming service in the fourth quarter of 2019. That’s double the 10% level in early 2018. They spent 31% of those streaming hours on Netflix, 21% on YouTube, 12% on Hulu and 8% on Amazon, according to Nielsen. While Netflix’s dominance in streaming isn’t a surprise, the findings show that Google’s free, ad-based video platform still commands a big share of viewing time – despite subscription services producing expensive dramas to attract viewers.