Rapid TV News

2015 is proving to be a blockbuster year for over-the-top (OTT) video services, but we are a long way from peak OTT says a Parks Associates study.

Indeed the report, The OTT Playbook, Part II: Keys to Building Momentum, commissioned by Vindicia and Ooyala, found that the market now has more than 65 players — either currently offering video services or announcing plans to do so in the coming months. In addition to current OTT leaders Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO and Amazon Prime, ...read more

Consumers in the US are interested in cloud DVRs, with Parks Associates research finding that 51% of pay-TV subscribers would like unlimited space to store DVR recordings.

About 50% of US broadband homes either include a DVR as part of their pay-TV subscription or have one purchased at retail. But cloud-based options are still in the early days of rollout: the research firm estimates the total number of cloud DVR subscribers in the US will hit just 4.6 million by the end of ...read more

A full 11% of US households are using other people’s accounts (i.e. are unpaid consumers) for digital video.

Digital media consumer research from Parks Associates reports that while 57% of US broadband households access an over-the-top (OTT) video subscription, account sharing is a lingering challenge. The research shows that 11% of Netflix subscribers, 10% of Hulu Plus subscribers and 5% of Amazon Prime Instant Video subscribers are using an account paid for by someone else ...read more

Research from Parks Associates has revealed that 27% of US broadband households now own a streaming media device and nearly 90% have devices connected to the Internet.

The firm's Q1 2015 consumer survey also showed that more consumers bought a streaming media device than a Blu-ray player in the last 12 months and that these devices have the highest connection rate among the top CE categories. By comparison, just over three-quarters (77%) of the households with a smart TV and ...read more

Recent research from Parks Associates finds thatfinds that, unsurprisingly, subscriptions are highest among households with a younger head-of-household, with 72% among ages 18-24 and 71% among ages 25-34 having an OTT service subscription.

"Consumers in key demographics have adopted OTT services in large numbers, and now both content companies and service providers need to develop the technologies and solutions to deliver high-quality video experiences to these subscribers," ...read more

Still, other researchers disagree with Nielsen’s conclusions. Parks Associates recently found that the number of households planning to cancel their pay-TV service (potential cord-cutters) has increased, reaching 7% of US broadband + TV households. Parks also noted that the new deal between Apple and HBO to stream the HBO Now streaming service to Apple devices is just the latest example of reasons why consumers will continue to cut the cord.

"The pay-TV industry is experienc ...read more

Similarly, research from Parks Associates shows on-demand video accounts for 49% of the video consumed on the TV, and it is already the majority, 60%, of TV video viewed by consumers 18-24.

"Growing consumer demand, alongside new OTT service announcements from HBO and CBS, is driving all players in the video ecosystem to add streaming capabilities to their devices," said Barbara Kraus, director of research at Parks Associates.

From the article "OTT video quests for speci ...read more

Nearly 60% of Canadian broadband households have at least one connected CE, including a smart TV, Blu-ray player, gaming console, connected PVR/DVR, or streaming media device connected to the Internet, according to research from Parks Associates.

The analyst's report, Emerging Power of IoT in Canada, took a look at adoption levels for connected devices, usage patterns and the impact devices are having on broadband and pay-TV service providers. It found that almost three-four ...read more