Regular (monthly) Netflix users in the US have grown even more dependent on the service for viewing TV programming, saying they watch 10 shows per week via the platform – as well as four movies during the same timeframe, according to the GfK research group (www.gfk.com). For TV content, this represents a doubling of the level (five shows per week) found in the same survey three years ago.

Projected to the full population, this means that the average US consumer ages 13 to 54 watches roughly 5 TV shows and two movies per week via Netflix using one or more platforms. The findings come from “Over the Top TV 2015: A Complete Video Landscape” – the latest study in GfK’s ongoing The Home Technology Monitor series tracking media technology and services. The new report includes trends from five prior “over the top” (OTT) studies conducted since 2010.

Watching via Netflix on mobile devices has also more than doubled in three years, with 24% of regular Netflix users reporting viewing in the past month via one or more mobile platforms – up from 10% three years ago. Monthly viewing on TVs has risen from 36% to 47% among the same group, and watching on PCs (laptop or desktop) has jumped from 17% to 25%.

One-quarter (25%) of regular Netflix users also report “binge” viewing – watching three or more programs in one sitting – either “often” or “all the time.” Bingeing levels are highest among Generation Y (ages 13 to 35), with almost one in three (31%) reporting this behavior.

“Netflix is a TV ecosystem unto itself, and now an established force in the total TV marketplace,” says David Tice, senior vice president of Media and Entertainment at GfK. “But it represents just one aspect of an increasingly complex OTT picture, which also includes subscription services like Amazon Prime and Hulu, delivery systems such as Roku and Apple TV, and threatened encumbents like cable and satellite companies, which are trying to leverage their content with TV Everywhere options.”

He adds that the upshot is that OTT has now gone mainstream, and consumer expectations of control over their viewing experience continue to rise. When today’s teens become breadwinners, they may bypass traditional distribution channels in ways we cannot even imagine now – “challenging all of today’s content players to stay up to speed and continue to experiment with delivery innovations,” says Tice.