Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

People sharing streaming passwords is costing the industry $500 million a year

Are you using someone else’s Netflix or HBO Go password? Then you might owe part of the $500 million that credential sharing cost the streaming industry last year

According to a report from market research firm Parks Associates, some 6 percent of U.S. households are piggybacking off of other people’s accounts for streaming services (i.e. Netflix, HBO Go, Amazon Prim, Hulu, etc.).

“Live-streaming usage has garnered media attention recently, but credential sharing is also a popular form of piracy in the connected world, one that has received varying responses from service providers and content owners,” said Glenn Hower, a research analyst at Parks Associates. “Credential sharing has a measurable impact on video services, particularly in the OTT [over-the-top] video service area, where young subscribers are active. The impact on OTT video revenues is especially troublesome as OTT providers are investing large sums of money to boost their original content offerings.”

From the article "People sharing streaming passwords is costing the industry $500 million a year" by Scott Sutton.

Previously In The News

Deeper Dive—Nothing’s dying in pay TV, it’s just getting segmented and iterated

In fact, I heard all of those questions posed—some of them multiple times—at our first annual Pay TV Show in Denver a few weeks back. The answers were always nuanced, often vaguely unsatisfying … and...

Integration: The smart home hub killer (Reality Check)

I am glad to report that the smart home market is in rude health. One recent research report from Parks Associates found that 17 percent of US broadband households own an Internet-connected entertainm...

DirecTV Now to hike prices as content fees rise across industry

Brett Sappington, director of research at Parks Associates, said price increases are a leading reason why viewers cancel subscriptions. “Customers don’t like surprises that hurt their pocketbook,”...

Walmart partners with MGM to boost video-on-demand service Vudu

There are currently more than 200 video services that bypass cable providers and stream content directly to a TV, laptop, phone or game console. That is up from 68 services five years ago, according t...