Amazon Surpasses Hulu and Apple in Streaming Video Usage

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To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon announced they streamed more video than Apple and Hulu combined. ;)

Amazon Instant Video today announced that video streams on Prime Instant Video nearly tripled year over year. According to a report from Qwilt, which tracks growth in online video usage, Amazon has now passed both Apple and Hulu in streaming video usage.
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I would have no problem paying for Hulu Plus if it got rid of the commercials. I dropped cable because I got tired of paying money to spend 1/3 of my time watching advertisements.
 
Yet they still don't have an Android app for video streaming, despite having one on iOS and the Kindle Fires (that run Android). :mad:
 
heatlesssun said:
Not surprising with it being included in Prime.
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if prime keeps rising maybe not so much... although if you're going to stream, the cost of prime per month makes it a quite a steal, although I've never used it so I don't know what kind of stuff they have compared to Hulu
 
Doesn't say much comparing it to Apple and Hulu. It would benefit Amazon though to open up with Android app and Chromecast support before people get too entrenched in competing services.
 
I think Amazon is counting every streaming failure and restart as a separate data point. I'm sure by this time next year they'll be completely dominating Netflix on that basis.
 
Failure and restart? I don't think I've encountered this problem. I hit that a lot with Hulu and Firefox though.
 
Super-D said:
I would have no problem paying for Hulu Plus if it got rid of the commercials. I dropped cable because I got tired of paying money to spend 1/3 of my time watching advertisements.
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Try half your time
 
Serpent said:
Failure and restart? I don't think I've encountered this problem. I hit that a lot with Hulu and Firefox though.
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It caused me to ditch Amazon Prime with constant buffering pauses at any time of day and complete, system-crashing failures on Xbox 360 (after 3 months of working just fine, and with Hulu+ and Netflix working perfectly the whole time). It also does it constantly on my mom's Roku (she has an even better Internet connection with a different company and, again, Netflix, Hulu+, and HBOGo all work perfectly for her).

Maybe your mileage varies, maybe it's an issue with the part(s) of town we live in. Either way, I've come to the conclusion that Amazon streaming is garbage compared to the alternatives.
 
Babbster said:
It caused me to ditch Amazon Prime with constant buffering pauses at any time of day and complete, system-crashing failures on Xbox 360 (after 3 months of working just fine, and with Hulu+ and Netflix working perfectly the whole time). It also does it constantly on my mom's Roku (she has an even better Internet connection with a different company and, again, Netflix, Hulu+, and HBOGo all work perfectly for her).

Maybe your mileage varies, maybe it's an issue with the part(s) of town we live in. Either way, I've come to the conclusion that Amazon streaming is garbage compared to the alternatives.
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Oh, sounds like you use it on different machines. I just use it on my main pc. Amazon's selection is meh, if you don't watch TV shows from what I can tell. The player isn't as .... intuitive either.

Netflix definitely still beats both though.
 
I can't stand Hulu and have zero connection to anything Apple.

Still, Amazon Prime is a UI nightmare. I'd use it much more if I could.
 
Skripka said:
Try half your time
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Not that I've noticed. 1/3 seems about right. Walking Dead and Breaking Bad episodes fill an hour slot on AMC and have around 44 mins of of actual show time. So it's actually about 1/4, for AMC at least. Not sure if other channels are worse.
 
I use Amazon and Netflix since I cut the Dish cord back in August last year and find myself watching more and more of Amazon. They have a couple shows that I cant find on Netflix and they have brand spanking new episodes of shows I watch like The Walking Dead and a couple others. Of course you have to pay for those so maybe they dont count but its nice that theyre there. With Amazon going up to a C note annually for membership though Ill be dumping them at the end of the year when my membership expires and just sticking with Netflix.
 
Overflow from the shipping part of Prime. Amazon's selection is poor and just this Sunday a bunch of stuff I had flagged in my watchlist fell out of Prime.
 
I really hate going back to hulu with the commercials but they either have 3 points for non popular stuff or five points for stuff that gets a lot of views. The longest is 180 seconds so that is 15 minutes out of an hour show. 15/60 = 1/4 :)
 
Amazon always gives me an HDCP error because of my dual monitors, it can be fixed but it is ridiculous when both my monitors are HDCP compatible, in addition it streams like garbage no matter what I do.
 
Hulu works great after you block a few sites at the router level.
It works great on my TV... on the PC Hulu throws a fit cause it can't find the ads, but the TV and Xbox don't seem to care they just keep on playing.
 
ServerKing said:
This sounds intriguing,,,,
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Last I checked... If you block:
ads.hulu.com
t2.hulu.com
ll.a.hulu.com
lightningcast.com

You'll have no ads and no wait screens on Hulu with the Xbox360, and the website will give your 60 seconds of black.
 
plupien79 said:
Last I checked... If you block:
ads.hulu.com
t2.hulu.com
ll.a.hulu.com
lightningcast.com

You'll have no ads and no wait screens on Hulu with the Xbox360, and the website will give your 60 seconds of black.
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Nice, I was about to ask for that too and couldn't find it with a quick Google search. I would still prefer 60 secs of black over commercials, lol.
 
the biggest issue we have with the ads on hulu is that they play the same ones over..and over..and over
 
sfsuphysics said:
if prime keeps rising maybe not so much... although if you're going to stream, the cost of prime per month makes it a quite a steal, although I've never used it so I don't know what kind of stuff they have compared to Hulu
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One price increase in EIGHT years is hardly "keeps rising".
 
I don't doubt that. I stream Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead, and (used to) Breaking Bad on Amazon Prime.
 
locutus24 said:
Amazon always gives me an HDCP error because of my dual monitors, it can be fixed but it is ridiculous when both my monitors are HDCP compatible, in addition it streams like garbage no matter what I do.
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Amazon does jack all, that's windows that is not setting the HDCP flag, fyi.
 
kattana said:
the biggest issue we have with the ads on hulu is that they play the same ones over..and over..and over
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That's sort of my biggest issue.

MOST network TV shows have a cadence designed for commercial breaks, and Hulu matches their breaks up to those perfectly, so...it feels 'right'. CONCEPTUALLY. The *same* idiotic commercials, though...over and over...does get a bit annoying.

Some more variety here, wouldn't hurt.
 
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