In a recent article for The Guardian, HBO revealed the scheduled launch of HBO Now, its online streaming-only OTT service, will be April 2015. Apple TV is also reportedly set to be one of the new streaming service's first partners.

HBO first announced its plans to launch a streaming-only OTT service in October 2014, sparking intense discussion and analysis throughout the digital media market. Shortly after, Parks Associates research showed that 17% of U.S. broadband households report that they are likely to subscribe to the new HBO Now service. 

Peter Kafka of re/code broke down the numbers: 

• Parks says its survey of 10,000 broadband users finds that 17 percent of homes with high-speed Internet say they’ll subscribe to HBO’s Web subscription service when it launches. There are at least 88 million households with broadband in the U.S. So that’s a pool of 15 million subscribers.
• Parks says 91 percent of the broadband users who say they’ll subscribe to HBO on the Web also have pay-TV subscriptions today. That’s 13.6 million subscribers.

According to Parks Associates director of research Brett Sappington, 2015 is "set to be the year of OTT." HBO, CBS, and DISH have all announced new services launching this year, and Parks Associates expects several other players to jump into the OTT game before the year is out. In Canada and Europe, too, players are launching and expanding OTT services to satisfy consumer appetites for streaming video content.

Parks Associates analyst Glenn Hower has issued further context and analysis of its original data. 

Additional Parks Associates reseach:

• Over 50% of U.S. broadband households subscribe to an OTT video service.
• U.S. broadband households watch an average of 36.2 hours of video per week, and 65% of all video consumed is on a television screen.
• Nearly 50% of video viewed on the television screen is from non-linear sources (DVR, Internet video, VOD, PPV, DVD/Blu-ray).

Read the original Guardian article by clicking here. Parks Associates analysts are available to comment on HBO Now - contact Holly Sprague via email to set up an interview or briefing or to request specific data.

Further Reading:

• The Skinny on HBO, OTT, and cord-cutting
• Seventeen percent of U.S. broadband households are likely to subscribe to an OTT HBO service
• Consumer Segmentation: OTT Video Buyers