New research addresses continuing impact of COVID-19 on broadband usage, CE product adoption, OTT service stacking, and churn rates  

Parks Associates today released a new Quantified Consumer study, COVID-19: Impact on Communications and Entertainment, which reveals that in 3Q 2020, more than 50% of US broadband households reported that their broadband usage has increased since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. While consumers report broadband performance is keeping pace with the increased demand, in Q3 2020, 24% of fixed broadband households reported plans to upgrade their speed in the next six months, compared to 18% in 2Q 2020.

“Broadband upgrade plans indicate many households see some COVID-19-related changes as permanent,” said Steve Nason, Research Director, Parks Associates. “For video services, OTT service stacking has been particularly pronounced, with 45% of US broadband households subscribing to three or more OTT services. Many consumers are planning to add new services such as Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, and Peacock as a permanent part of their OTT service portfolio, beyond the traditional Big 3: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu.”

COVID-19: Impact on Communications and Entertainment examines the impact of COVID-19 on service providers and consumer adoption and satisfaction throughout the communications, consumer technology, and entertainment and home services sectors. The research reports COVID-19 continues to widen the OTT/pay-TV gap. As many across the US remain homebound, households are continually relying on video content to fill their time outside of work and school. Within video services, COVID-19 has accelerated the trend of video viewers accessing OTT offerings at much higher rates than a pay-TV service via a traditional or online provider.

“Many traditional pay-TV subscribers are migrating to online pay-TV offerings or standalone OTT services,” Nason said. “Traditional providers, who still comprise the majority of the pay-TV market, have to continually seek ways to integrate online video services into their offerings either through homegrown solutions or external partnerships.”

For more information on COVID-19: Impact on Communications and Entertainment and other studies, contact [email protected]. To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific research data, please contact Rosey Ulpino at [email protected], 972.996.0233.

About Parks Associates: Parks Associates, a woman-founded and certified business, is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates provides business intelligence and research services through its proprietary methodologies developed over decades, including quarterly surveys of 10,000 internet households.

The company's expertise crosses many industries: home security and smart home, streaming video, broadband and pay-TV services, digital media and platforms, gaming, Wi-Fi and home networks, connected health, support, consumer electronics, home control systems, energy management, and tech solutions for the multi-dwelling (MDU), small-to-medium business (SMB), and commercial building markets.

Each year, Parks Associates brings thousands of leaders together for its webinars and annual events. The firm hosts the annual executive research and strategy conferences CONNECTIONS™, Connected Health Summit, Smart Energy Summit, Smart Spaces, and Future of Video. https://www.parksassociates.com
 

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