Average Weekly Hours of Online Video Concumpton in 2020 Nealy Double that of 2017 as Newcomers Enter the Market -- Parks Associates

A new data base released by Parks Associates found that the number of hours consumers spend watching online video per week has nearly doubled from 3.6 hours in 2017 to almost 7 hours in 2020 . Dallas-based Parks said at the same time traditional pay-TV service has declined from an adoption rate of 75% to 62% in U.S. broadband households between Q1 2017 and Q1 2020, which led a subsequent decline in set-top box adoption.

Parks Associates’ Contributing Analyst Dr. Kenneth Wacks stated, “Consumer surveys find that 74% of U.S. broadband households subscribe to at least one streaming service, and almost half of domestic broadband households subscribe to two or more services.”

Wacks said the top three domestic over-the-top (OTT) subscription services remain Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu. Newcomers Disney+ and Apple TV+ have grown quickly to round out the top five. Additional services of note include CBS All Access, Crackle, Fubo TV, BHO Not, Philo, Pluto TV, and Sling TV.

Parks said the OTT services allow households to access premium video content without a set-top box, forcing a change in the relationship between set-top box makers and cable/satellite operators. Content developers and networks are now streaming content directly to consumers or distributing through OTT service providers. In some cases, multiple-system operators (MSOs) are launching their own streaming devices or creating offerings similar to virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) with the goal of recapturing pay-TV cord-cutters.

Parks contends the pay-TV set-top can remain viable if able to aggregate the variety of different streaming services coming into the households and present them in a personalized and attractive UI with voice and smart home controls for an improved consumer experience.

Wacks addressed this, saying “The set-top box does have a role in this market, but it will have to adapt.”