"digital media" articles

According to new research from Parks Associates  released today, 10% of U.S. broadband households have purchased at least one streaming media device this year. Top competitors Roku, Google, and Apple represent the three largest market shareholders, each with less than a third. Though Roku's shares have been slipping thanks to increasing competition and new entrances to the market ( Amazon recently announced its own streaming media stick, the Fire TV Stick), the company still...

Yesterday, HBO announced plans to add a stand-alone streaming service to its content offerings. Though the company already has a successful subscription streaming service, HBO Go, this new streaming offering would allow consumers to opt-in without having to purchase an HBO subscription through their pay-TV provider. HBO CEO Richard Plepler noted in his comments yesterday that about 10 million U.S. homes have high-speed broadband and no pay-TV service. Parks Associates research...

Game of Thrones, Girls, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver could be coming to a device near you, whether or not you have a pay-TV subscription. This morning at a Time Warner, Inc. investor meeting, HBO chief executive Richard Plepler announced that the network would launch a standalone over-the-top service as soon as 2015 . The jump would not be drastic from a technology standpoint, as HBO currently delivers content through its HBO GO app. However, a move into the...

New research released by Parks Associates this week reveals that approximately two-thirds of Amazon Prime Instant Video subscribers also rent or purchase titles through the service, and their average expenditures are increasing. These findings emphasize the potential role of transactional services to supplement subscription OTT. Amazon’s ‘Transparent’ Gets A Second Season, Netflix Competitor Touts ‘Binge-Factor’ “Amazon is certainly getting traction in the...

In a recent article for the San Francisco Gate , details of an open letter sent from Apple shareholder and activist Carl Icahn sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook were revealed.  In the letter, Icahn provides predictions for the next generation of Apple products, including its popular iPhone and iPad series, forecasting that the company's new releases will continue to drive popularity and demand, thereby raising stock prices, which he feels are too low for comfort. Harry Wang ,...

According to new Parks Associates research  released today, 37% of U.S. broadband households regularly use transactional services for OTT video, such as online video rentals and downloads. The research comes from the firm's 1Q 2014 consumer survey of 10,000 broadband households, now compiled in the primary research report, 360 View: CE Adoption and Trends . Other data highlights from the report include: 2/3 of Amazon Prime Instant Video subscribers rent or...

Last night, Redbox Instant by Verizon ceased operations ending its 19-month OTT experiment, with both Verizon and Redbox parent company Outwall expressing disappointment with subscription numbers. Redbox Instant failed to find an audience, underscoring the notion that OTT video services must differentiate themselves while offering valuable content to be successful. Verizon went toe-to-toe with established OTT video services Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime, but failed to...

We interviewed consumer analytics director John Barrett about HBO and Amazon’s recent landmark deal. Last month, Amazon Prime subscribers were able to access some of the premium cable channel’s older content online. It’s a huge shift in the streaming video industry. Parks Associates:  What do you think about Amazon buying streaming rights to older HBO content? Do you think it’s a smart move? John Barret:  Well, certainly you're seeing a lot of...