It's no secret that Netflix is rising in popularity fast. Many consumers who have spent thousands of dollars over the years in building up large movie collections are beginning to look to the video rental/streaming service and other digital services for low prices on movies or TV shows they can watch wherever they want, anytime they want.

Netflix is so big, in fact, that it has Hollywood film executives scared, and they're not the only ones. Blockbuster and Movie Gallery have filed for bankruptcy protection because of Netflix's impact on the movie industry. The rental/streaming giant has over 20 million subscribers that can access Netflix's services on over 200 devices/platforms. So it's no surprise that a new survey has confirmed that Netflix is the leader in digital movies streaming. 

The survey, which was conducted by The NPD Group, a leading North American market research company, was performed between January and the third week of February 2011, and consisted of 10,618 U.S. consumers ages 13 and older. Using a new tracking service called VideoWatch Digital, The NPD Group found that six out of 10 digital movies are streamed through Netflix. 

Netflix's share of downloaded or streamed digital movie units hit 61 percent during the time of the survey, while Comcast was at 8 percent, and Time Warner Cable, Apple and DirecTV were at 4 percent.  

In addition, participants were asked to describe their satisfaction with electronic sell-through (EST), cable VOD, Internet VOD, and subscription streaming. Many reported that ESTs have the most new releases available, but Netflix streaming received many good remarks such as "best value for price paid" and "best overall shopping experience."

"Sales of DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs still drive most home-video revenue, but VOD and other digital options are now beginning to make inroads with consumers," said Russ Crupnick, an entertainment industry analyst for The NPD Group. "Overwhelmingly digital movie buyers do not believe physical discs are out of fashion, but their digital transactions were motivated by the immediate access and ease of acquisition provided by streaming and downloading digital video files."