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Parks said device makers have successfully sold streaming media players to consumers by offering easy access to a variety of content streams, as well as frequent updates that add the latest innovations. Amazon in particular has benefited by promoting its Fire TV devices in conjunction with the company’s Prime Video service as well as streams from HBO, Showtime and other premium offerings.

“Thirty-six percent of U.S. broadband households have at least one streaming media play ...read more

Roughly 6% of American households are using Google’s $35 Chromecast HDMI dongle, but monthly usage of the device is declining as adoption of other streaming media players rises, according to research from Parks Associates.

Nearly 20% of U.S. broadband households have a streaming media player today, up from 14% in 2012. But for Chromecast, the percentage of owners who reported using the device to view Web content on their TV dropped from 76% in the third quarter of 2013 to 57 ...read more

Parks Associates said the year will end with more than 103 million domestic households subscribing to a pay-TV service, including cable, satellite and telecommunication. 2013 ended with about 100.3 million pay-TV households.

Indeed, the chairman of No. 1 cabler Comcast said the company gained an undisclosed number of new video subscribers in the fourth quarter — its first quarterly video sub gain in more than six years.

Among current pay-TV subscribers, two-thirds expres ...read more

A Parks Associates study found that 34% of Chromecast owners are streaming content from Hulu to their TV every day. Forty-three percent are streaming Netflix on a daily basis.

John Barrett, director of consumer analytics for Parks Associates, said Chromecast is giving consumers a way to circumvent screen restrictions for TV content.

“Chromecast is giving people in Hollywood headaches right now,” he said. “All the wrangling over licensing restrictions doesn’t mean much if ...read more

The number of U.S. broadband households using streaming media players to connect the television to the Internet has doubled to 14% since 2011, according to new data from Parks Associates.

Dallas-based Parks said Roku remains the most-used streaming media device in the U.S. market with 37% usage, compared with 24% usage for Apple TV, according to a survey of 10,000 broadband households.

The data would appear to underscore Roku’s claim that it is the most popular streaming ...read more

Four out of five connected-TV owners use applications on a regular basis, with 43% using apps to watch video, and 45% using apps to play games, according to a new report.

App developers are targeting connected TVs more and more, after initially focusing on smartphones and tablets, according to Heather Way, senior research analyst for Parks Associates, which conducted the survey.

“Seventy-nine percent of smart-TV owners are regular app users, but the use cases for TV apps ...read more

After broadcast television, most people still watch a movie on a DVD or Blu-ray Disc player, according to new data from Parks Associates.

The finding — disclosed in research by Parks Associates on broadband households — would appear to buttress the notion that packaged media remains a viable format in an era of increasing digital distribution of home entertainment.

More than 20% of broadband households watched a movie on disc in the past two weeks, compared with about 50 ...read more

The recent transition from unlimited to tiered data plans for mobile devices by carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless has not impacted downloads of apps by consumers, according to new research from Parks Associates.

Smartphone owners on tiered data plans have downloaded an average of 17 apps since purchasing their phones and use seven apps on average per month. By comparison, smartphone owners on unlimited data plans have downloaded an average of 16 apps since ...read more