Neflix claims this week that it is now ahead of Lovefilm “in every important streaming-related metric” in the UK market.

This claim is supported by research The Beans Group conducted among its 250,000+ student database in spring 2012. It shows that the US firm made a huge impact in a short amount of time.

Launched only in January 2012, by late April Netflix was used by 10% of all UK students for online streaming - representing around ¼ million young people. At that time Lovefilm was used by 12% and Sky led them at 14%.

Assuming growth continued into June and July at a similar pace, it seems highly likely the trailblazing streaming service would soon surpass Lovefilm.

A huge 75% of UK students watch TV and film on their laptops. However BBC’s iPlayer is by far the favourite place to stream; 87% of those surveyed use it.

For more on the media usage and online spending of 16-24s, see the new Youth Insight Report.