It's the embodiment of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em": Researcher Parks Associates released data today showing that 21 percent of pay TV subscribers in the U.S. also subscribe to a streaming service through their pay TV provider. If that doesn't sound like many, consider that only 10 percent did so one year ago. This shows cable and satellite companies see the inevitability of over-the-top services, and have decided it makes more sense to add streaming services to their platforms rather than fighting them. Consumers appreciate unified billing, so this move is a win for subscribers, as well, who can pay one monthly bill for multiple services.
Not that all the news is good for pay TV, however: Parks revealed that 77 percent of U.S. households now have a pay TV subscription, down from 86 percent in 2015. There's a feeling in the industry that this number is close to reaching its bottom, so perhaps a plateau is coming.
While some households get their OTT services from a pay TV provider, the reverse is also true: Parks says almost 18 percent of homes with a cable channels get them through an online video service, such as Sling TV, DirecTV Now, or Hulu With Live TV.
From the article "Pay TV Meets OTT: 1 in 5 Get Streaming Service Through Pay TV" by Troy Dreier.
“Nothing in our proposal would prevent Comcast or TimeWarner from what they’re doing with Roku or Apple TV, or how they decide to pick what devices to share their app with,” says an FCC spokeswoman....
Things have changed. Parks Associates analysis in 2014 found that Chromecast had replaced Apple TV in second place behind Roku. Its market share was 20%. In 2019, though, Parks Associates found that o...
Last August, market analysts at Parks Associates found that more than any other streaming media device -- including those from Amazon, Apple, and Google -- Roku was the leading brand and had increased...
Last August, Parks Associates reported that Roku controlled 37% of the streaming device market in the U.S., while Amazon, Google, and Apple held shares of 24%, 18%, and 15%, respectively. All three of...