Despite the growing amount of video available online, less than 8% of US broadband households are considering canceling their pay-TV services in favour of online video, according to Parks Associates.

These results from their news study All Eyes on Video are in line with previous Parks Associates research, which do not show an appreciable likelihood of subscriber churn in favour of online video services. A 2008 study reported 11% of US broadband households were considering cancelling pay-TV services, and in an earlier 2009 survey, the number was 10%.

“The threat of cannibalization is real but misunderstood,” said John Barrett, director, research, Parks Associates, in a statement. “Nobody is going to rely on online video alone—households likely to cancel their TV services are going to use a mixture of online video, free-to-air broadcasts, and DVDs, including rental services such as Netflix and Redbox.”

Barrett also discounted the immediate threat of migration to online video. “Very few households have made the switch, a sign that the alternative is not yet compelling. Just 0.5% of broadband households (350,000 homes) had pay-TV, cancelled it, and now watch five or more hours of online video per week. People who have made the switch to online video are few in number, and they don’t watch much TV anyway.”

From the article, "Over-the-top not yet a threat to pay-TV" by Robert Briel

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