Multichannel News

Netflix is by far the largest subscription OTT video service provider, with 52% of all U.S. broadband homes taking it by the end of last year, but it also enjoys the lowest churn rate as a percentage of its total sub base, Parks Research found in a new study focused on the over-the-top video sector.

In the past 12 months, just 5% of U.S. broadband homes cancelled their Netflix account (up from 4% in the firm’s Q2 2015 study), including those that left after the end of a tri ...read more

But the more options, the better, according to research from Parks Associates. Their data finds that a full 70% of American homes have at least one OTT service, and that number isn’t likely to go down.

“In the U.S. and Canada, the quickly increasing volume of new options is driving high numbers of online viewing of TV and movies,” said Brett Sappington, director of research for Parks Associates. “Each service is bringing new experiences for consumers, and many are providing ...read more

Parks Associates, meanwhile, believes the partnership is a good fit in part because more video streaming is happening on smartphones, the arrangement could reduce churn for Sprint, and because Amazon gains a new channel for attracting Prime subs.

According to Parks Associates, 86% of U.S. broadband homes also own a smartphone, and 60% of U.S. homes have at least one OTT video service subscription. About 71% of smartphone owners watch short video clips, and spend 24 minutes, ...read more

“OTT is definitely gaining traction across Europe,” said Brett Sappington, director of research for Parks Associates. “We are seeing new OTT video services spring up but not as many as in North America. In many parts of Europe, pay TV penetration is lower than the U.S., and European consumers have been reluctant to pay for video in the past due to so many ‘free’ options such as the BBC iPlayer. But, as more pay options enter the market, with content unavailable anywhere else, th ...read more

Offering another indicator on how TV Everywhere services are performing, usage of those authenticated offerings reached 40% of U.S. pay TV subs in 2015, up from 22% in 2013, according to a new study from Parks Associates.

From the article "TV Everywhere Usage Climbs: Study" by Jeff Baumgartner.

A Parks Associates-run Connections Summit panel about converged video services here at CES took a stab at what 2016 will be the Year Of with respect to video, and with the understanding that 2015 was the Year of OTT.

As you might imagine, the answers ran pretty closely to the core businesses of the panelists.

From the article "2016: The Year of ____?" by Jeff Baumgartner.

“The number of new services and continued growth for many existing services show the vitality of the OTT video services market in the U.S.,” said Brett Sappington, director of research at Parks Associates. “While Netflix holds a substantial lead, new and emerging OTT services are establishing their own place in the market.”

Newcomers have indeed made strides. Among the top 10, HBO Now debuted in April, while Sling TV, Dish’s OTT-TV service, launched on a national basis in F ...read more

Sony currently makes PS Vue available on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles, and recently launched a PS Vue app for the iPad. Gaming consoles remained the top CE device used to access online video content as of the first quarter of 2015, per a new study from Parks Associates.

While Sony has not announced how it will package its new Disney and ESPN programming, it currently markets three multichannel plans: Access ($49.99 per month), Core ($59.99 per month), and El ...read more