Netflix, Other Streaming Services Not Hurting Movie Theater Audiences As Much As Believed

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Turns out Netflix isn't chilling audience turnout at the box office as much as some anticipated.

A new study commissioned by the National Association of Theater Owners, a lobbying group for the exhibition industry, found people who go out to the movies more also consume more streaming content at home.

The study by EY's Quantitative Economics and Statistics group appears to contradict the conventional wisdom of most entertainment analysts who say declining movie theater audiences are being siphoned off by Netflix and other streaming services.

Among the findings: respondents who went to a movie at least nine times in the last 12 months watched more streaming content than consumers who went to a movie theater only once or twice in the last year.

Fans who saw at least nine movies at the theater averaged 11 hours of weekly streaming compared to roughly seven hours of streaming by those who only went once or twice to the movie theaters.

And almost half of the 2,500 respondents who didn't go out to the movies once in the last year did not stream any content at all online.

Meanwhile, teens are went to more movies - an average of more than seven a year - than any other age group and streamed 9.2 hours of content, compared with roughly six visits and 8.6 hours of streaming for 18-37 year olds.

"The message here is that there's not a war between streaming and theatrical," Phil Contrino, director of media and research at NATO, told Variety. "People who love content are watching it across platforms and all platforms have place in consumers' minds."

Earlier this year, Netflix announced plans to dole out upwards of $8 billion on 700 original series in a bid for more binge-worthy content.