The state of streaming is strong — but consumer sentiment is iffy, and new models are being deployed to fight off churn.

Such is the video business described by research company Parks Associates, as the Dallas-based firm keynoted its eighth annual “Future of Video” B2B event in Marina del Rey, Calif., this week with its annual “State of Streaming” report.

The report, drawn from a survey of more than 8,000 domestic broadband households and presented Nov. 18 by Parks Associates research VP Jennifer Kent, found that subscription streaming service adoption over the third quarter of this year expanded to 91% of U.S. internet households (from 89% in third quarter of 2024), while traditional pay-TV subscriptions declined to 41% (from 50% in Q3 2024).

The report also offers key insights into the economic factors governing the U.S. subscription streaming industry, amid an uncertain future of import tariffs, inflation and other variables. 

The Parks Associates survey also suggests that the most popular reasons cited by consumers for choosing a less-expensive, ad-supported SVOD tier were all financial, including affordability (34%), saving money (31%) and not seeing enough value in paying more for ad-free (22%).

From the article, "U.S. Streaming Rides Into 2026 on Wave of Uncertainty, Says Parks Associates" by Daniel Frankel