More viewers subscribing to multiple streaming services -survey

By Malathi Nayak

NEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - As the number of streaming video services proliferate, about 16 percent of U.S. video viewers have signed up for more than one online streaming service, up from 10 percent three years ago, according to a report from market research firm GfK SE.

GfK's October report is based on interviews with 1,054 consumers on their subscription choices of streaming services such as Netflix Inc and Amazon Prime video, the firm said in a statement on Wednesday.

In recent years, the television industry has seen viewers increasingly gravitate towards online streaming video services and shunning pricier cable and satellite subscriptions.

The online streaming market is expected to get more crowded with new services from Hulu, which will launch a new live TV bundle of broadcast and cable network channels early next year and AT&T Inc, which will roll out its DirecTV Now streaming service by the end of the year.

About half of the viewers surveyed subscribe to at least one on-demand video streaming service, while 17 percent subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime and 9 percent have Netflix and Hulu Plus, GfK said. Five percent had Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu Plus.

Viewers who self-bundle, or create their own content bundles by subscribing to a combination of streaming services, have a mean income of $90,000, versus the mean income of $76,000 of a viewer who watches at least one video per week through any means online, TV or otherwise, the report said.

Even so, those who self-bundle are less likely to subscribe to more the expensive traditional cable and satellite TV services, Gfk found.

"As consumers start to self-bundle, the potential impact of increasing subscriber fees for each streaming service will be compounded," David Tice, SVP of Media and Entertainment at GfK, said.

"The last one to a price increase party may be the first one canceled - so individual streaming services need to consider competitor plans before instituting price hikes. There may also be a place in the market for a third-party aggregator of discounted streaming services," he added.

(Reporting by Malathi Nayak; Editing by Alan Crosby)