Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

Over a third share HBO NOW, other streaming passwords

It makes sense for the phenomenon to be so widespread: after all, why would two roommates or family members or even good friends have separate video streaming accounts when they can share a subscription? But, this 'mooching' phenomenon can eat into subscriber growth and profit.

The password-sharing number, from a USA Today poll, dovetails with a recent survey from Parks Associates that found such credential-sharing costs over-the-top (OTT) providers $500 million in revenue this year.

Parks found that 6% of US broadband households use an OTT video service that is paid by a person living outside of the household, but that number increases among millennials: 20% of OTT users aged 18-24 use an OTT video service paid by someone outside the home, the highest of any age group. Only 10% of OTT subscribers 25-34 admit to this behaviour.

Glenn Hower, research analyst at Parks Associates, commented: "Credential-sharing has a measurable impact on video services, particularly in the OTT 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 "Over a third share HBO NOW, other streaming passwords" by Michelle Clancy.
 

Previously In The News

DirecTV Now Goes 'Gangbusters,' And AT&T Stops The Bleeding

Before news broke Friday that AT&T has stopped bleeding TV customers, Parks Associates tried to put a finger on what sort of subscriber numbers for the company’s new streaming TV service would warrant...

Tubi TV’s Thomas Ahn-Hicks On AVOD, The Competition, And The Future Of OTT

Tubi TV is having a pretty good 2017 so far: the latest Parks Associates study proclaimed the ad-supported service to be one of the fastest-growing apps in its space. So morale was high when I spoke t...

PayPal Leads The Way In US Mobile Payments, But Retailers Not Happy

Mobile payments are still an up-and-coming new capability for consumers; while mobile banking has clearly led the way, there’s still a lot of interest in mobile payments at least in some fields. Wh...

Tablets Rise Amid Stark Desktop Decline

According to Parks, only 6 per cent of US broadband households rely on desktops exclusively, with an additional 6 per cent of households using only a combination of desktops and tablets. “Desktop a...