Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

Streaming wars will force media companies to choose between pricey subscriptions and ads

Parks Associates, a research firm that tracks the connected home, found in a recent survey that one-third of U.S. broadband households use a free, ad-based streaming service, up from 24% a year earlier.

“Consumers are turning to ad-supported streaming services as subscription fatigue continues to settle in,” Brandon Riney, a researcher at Parks, told CNBC in an email. “When discussing attitudes regarding ads on these streaming services, more consumers are willing to endure the ads to watch the content than completely resisting them.”

“As the purse strings of OTT consumers tighten, there is tremendous opportunity for free ad-based services to thrive,” wrote Steve Nason, an analyst at Parks Associates, in a post in November. “A service can establish a foothold in this space by delivering a unique offering of high-quality content in an engaging advertising-based environment.”

From the article "Streaming wars will force media companies to choose between pricey subscriptions and ads" by Megan Graham.

Previously In The News

Sports fans face increasingly steep fees and piecemeal access to watch their favorite teams. The government wants to step in

Some 43 percent of U.S. households with Internet access watch sports, and 70 percent use a streaming platform, according to a 2025 by market research firm Parks Associates. From the article, "Sport...

Netflix Price Increase 2026: New Rates for Every Subscription Tier

Seven in ten viewers say the same ads repeat too often, making repetition the top complaint with ad-supported streaming, Parks Associates found (February 10, 2026).  Low-cost ad-supported plans...

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...

Adoption Of Smart Home Access Solutions Grows Across US

According to new research from Parks Associates, adoption of smart home access control solutions is increasing among US internet households. In “Access Control in the Smart Home: Locks and Garage Door...