After seeing big pandemic-fueled usage surges in March and April, viewing time for the major U.S. SVOD services dipped in May, research company 7Park Data reports. 

Netflix, which saw average U.S. household minutes surpass 600 in April, dipped to around 550 average viewing minutes. While Disney Plus reached 200 average viewing minutes per household, then fell back to February-like usage levels in the same span. 

Apple TV Plus had the biggest percentage decline in May, with average minutes on the platform per U.S. household declining 18.75% (see chart below). 

Netflix’s Dead to Me was the most viewed major-SVOD-service show in May, commanding 19% of streaming time on the platform, 7Park Data said. Frozen 2 (22% of Disney Plus usage) and Defending Jacob (41% of time spent on Apple TV Plus) were also popular. 

TV shows and series typically serve as the point of “first engagement” for new Netflix and Hulu subscribers, 7Park Data found in an analysis of U.S. viewing data over the period of about a year.

TV series, rather than other types of content like movies, was the first engagement for 70% of new Netflix subscribers, and 88% among new Hulu customers, 7Park Data figured from data that was collected and analyzed from Feb. 1, 2017 to Jan. 9, 2018.

7Park Data said the insight is important in part because the kind of content that new customers consume on the first day of their subscriptions can make the difference between a brief trial and a long-standing relationship. It also sheds some light on the types of content that compel a consumer to subscribe.

Though TV was a top first engagement category from a general sense for new Hulu and Netflix subscribers, there are some differences in the genres that resonated most in the early going.

For Hulu, comedy shows, at 19%, was the top genre watched first by new subs, followed by dramas (16%), animation (10%), sci-fi (9%) and adventure. For Netflix, dramas (21%) led the  way, followed by comedies (11%), thrillers (9%), crime-related shows and mysteries (8% each). 

And although dramas were most often watched first by new Netflix subs, the data also showed that comedies drove overall Netflix TV streaming, 7Park Data found, noting that it shows that consumers often seek some levity to balance out their initial focus on drama-focused shows.

On a global, average basis, the three top “streamed first” titles from Netflix during the data collection period were Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why and Narcos. Top licensed series on Netflix were The Walking Dead, Riverdale, Rick & Morty, Vikings, Grey’s Anatomy, and Breaking Bad. The top original series were Black Mirror, House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, according to 7Park Data’s study.

To obtain its findings, 7Park Data uses a on a proprietary process that uses a passive, opt-in collection of data from a global sample of more than two million active Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon users.

Original series help subscription video-on-demand services differentiate themselves in the market and lure in customers. But licensed programming still drives the most traffic in the U.S. for Netflix and Hulu, according to a March 2017 study from 7Park Data.

Granted, the picture might change during months in which new original series premiere on these OTT services, but more than 80% of TV streams in Q1 2017 were of licensed, non-original shows, 7Park Data found in its latest Streaming Intelligence report. Its findings were based on a proprietary mapping process paired with standard metadata that relies on numbers culled from more than 1 million active OTT users that collectively stream more than 1 million hours of content each day.

“Licensed TV is watched during windows when viewers are waiting for their favorite originals to return,” 7Park Data said. “Licensed TV is watched during that post-binge ‘cool down’ and watched in the run-up to a new season on broadcast.”

In addition to classics and cult programming, SVOD subs also gravitate to “micro-episode” series that are shorter-form (15 minutes or less), and therefore require a smaller time commitment.

For Hulu, it’s become a secret weapon of sorts, as the most popular micro-episode titles were Adventure Time, Steven Universe, Regular Show and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. According to the study, 7% of all TV streams on Hulu are for episodes of 15 minutes or less, up 19% from the prior year.

By comparison, micro-episode viewing on Netflix is miniscule, presenting a “rare weak point for the service (and an opportunity as well),” 7Park Data said.

The popularity of TV genres also differ between Hulu and Netflix subs.

The family genre was tops on Hulu, up 2.9%, versus a year ago, while horror led the way on Netflix, up 17.1%, aided by shows such as Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries and original new series Santa Clarita Diet.

By comparison, mysteries (-43.9%) on Hulu, and family (-39.2%) on Netflix were the genres that were falling behind the curve for the respective services.