Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

DirecTV is making an Android-powered streaming box. What gives?

“If (AT&T) had a box that came in at $35 or under, consumers would be interested,” Brett Sappington told me. He’s the senior director of research at Parks Associates, which pays extremely close attention to the over-the-top (OTT) — meaning Internet-based TV — space. “They’d buy it just to see if it worked.”

Sappington reasons that a new streaming box isn’t dead on arrival, so long as it has a stellar user interface, is feature-rich, is open to all TV app developers and is relatively cheap. An existing DirecTV Now customer, for instance, may be compelled to test out the company’s box if it promises better streaming performance — say, no buffering during any live streams — and comes with some sort of service-plus-box deal.

From the article "DirecTV is making an Android-powered streaming box. What gives?" by Jennifer Van Grove.

Previously In The News

The psychology behind the way Netflix raises prices

Unlike seven years ago, the move pushed Netflix’s stock to new heights. The key, for Netflix’s management, was learning to raise prices without spooking subscribers—by doing so in small and infrequent...

TV Antennas Make Comeback As Pay-TV Prices Soar

So says market-research and consulting firm Parks Associates that estimates that the percentage of U.S. households that watch TV via antennas rose to 15 percent in 2016 from 9 percent in 2013. The res...

You can tell Comcast what to do on its Xfinity TV voice remote

Voice’s resurgence seems counter-intuitive. The technology first boomed in the 1990s with voice prompters in customer call centers – not always a satisfying experience as the prompters many times rout...

Password Sharing, Piracy Will Cost Streaming Companies $12.5B By 2024 – Report

New research by streaming tracker Parks Associates predicts the amount of revenue lost to piracy and password sharing will increase 38% to $12.5 billion over the next five years. While it is seldom...