Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

Paid streaming for cheapskates is having a moment

“This is a lot of catalog content,” says Parks Associates entertainment research director Michael Goodman, using industry shorthand for titles making up Hollywood’s back catalogs.

“There is not one business model that fits everybody,” says Goodman. Adding ad-free streaming to its portfolio is a smart move for Roku, he argues. “You need to have multiple platforms to reach the consumer.”

If Howdy catches on, other free streamers may follow with their own paid plans, predicts Goodman. “There is potential for this to expand to other services.”

“Subscription growth at any cost — that’s not the model today,” says Goodman, alluding to the billions of dollars the industry poured into streaming a few years ago.

When services like Apple TV Plus and Peacock launched in 2019 and 2020, respectively, they bet on undercutting Netflix with deeply discounted subscription plans — only to double the costs of those plans in the following years.

Could the same eventually happen to Howdy subscribers? Goodman thinks so. “Over time, the price will rise,” he says.

From the article, "Paid streaming for cheapskates is having a moment" by Janko Roettgers

Previously In The News

For Cord Cutters, AT&T’s New Virtual Cable Service An Unlikely Solution

Each is a decent enough product, but they’ve generated hardly any interest from consumers. Research firm Parks Associates estimated in October that after 18 months, Sling TV had signed up only 1 milli...

DirecTV Wants To Be The Next Online Substitute For Cable

But analysts estimate that Sling has racked up fewer than 1 million subscribers since it launched in February 2015. Vue's numbers are harder to get a handle on, but it's not on the list of top 10 most...

Edited Transcript Of WWE Earnings Conference Call Or Presentation

According to research conducted by Parks Associates, WWE Network is still the fifth largest streaming video-on-demand service in the United States, alongside Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and MLB.TV. Researc...

1-gig Internet coming to Boston area

Meantime, Google acquired Webpass, a San Francisco company that uses wireless technology instead of cables to deliver high-speed Internet services to businesses and apartment buildings. Brett Sappi...