LOS ANGELES — Video game consoles aren’t just for gaming anymore.
Increasingly, people are using their Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii devices to stream movies and TV shows, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Nielsen Co.
Because all three consoles readily connect to the Internet, viewers can use them to access video-on-demand services like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Major League Baseball Network and ESPN to watch on their TV screens rather than on small computer monitors.
And that seems to be just what consumers are doing. Streaming video accounted for 14 percent of the average time spent using Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 in October, up from 10 percent a year earlier, according to a Nielsen survey of 3,000 people.
For Sony Corp.’s PS3, the share of streaming video was 15 percent this year, up from 9 percent last year. The shift was even more dramatic for Nintendo Co.’s Wii, which jumped to 33 percent from 20 percent.
Xbox and PlayStation users also spent an additional 5 percent of their time watching movies and television shows they paid to download, an option not available on the Wii. That’s good news for studios looking to make more money through digital distribution.
It’s more troubling for television networks seeking to boost their ratings and ad revenue. The new data emphasize that consoles aren’t stealing viewers’ attention just with video games but also with content that serves as a direct substitute for traditional TV watching.
Game consoles have proven particularly effective for Netflix. An earlier Nielsen survey found that half of the users who utilize its streaming offerings do so on the PlayStation, Xbox or Wii.
Two of the consoles are also popular as DVD players. People spend 15 percent of their time on PS3s watching DVDs or Blu-ray discs. Sony’s device is the only console that plays Blu-ray discs and is the best-selling Blu-ray player on the market. Xbox 360 users spend 9 percent of their time watching DVDs.
