New consumer research from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates. om) shows 53% of U.S. broadband households subscribe to both a pay TV service and at least one OTT video service. OTT stands for “over-the-top,” the term used for the delivery of film and TV content via the internet, without requiring users to subscribe to a traditional cable or satellite pay-TV service like a Comcast or Time Warner Cable.
The research group reports more than 200 OTT video services are active in the U.S. market as of the third quarter of 2017, with more than 100 active in the Canadian market. The report notes that 60 players introduced OTT video services during 2016 and 2017, while only seven services closed during that same period.
“Many OTT services are evolving to be complementary to the market’s largest players, instead of trying to compete directly against Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu,” said Brett Sappington, senior director of Research, Parks Associates. “Also, consumers are increasingly self-aggregating their OTT and entertainment services—they are adopting primary entertainment content sources and supplementing those sources with complementary video options.”
In this report, Parks Associates analyzes the evolution of OTT video services, including changes in market competition, new partnerships, and the changing priorities by consumers. The report also includes global forecasts for OTT video and pay TV subscribers. Additional research the report shows:
° Over 87% of OTT video services in the U.S. and 86% in Canada offer some type of subscription options today, including freemium, ad-free premium tiers, and other blended business models.
° Awareness and use of TV Everywhere features have slowly increased over the past few years, reaching 34% by late 2016.
