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

4 ways digital platforms are reshaping entertainment access in 2026

According to TV Technology’s summary of Parks Associates data, 91% of U.S. internet households had at least one streaming service last year, while traditional pay‑TV reached just 41%. Nearly six subsc...

Social Platforms Are Moving Onto TV Screens—Industry Experts Explain Why

The shift is already underway. Social video is now the second-most-watched video type on TVs, according to research from Parks Associates. Jennifer Kent, SVP and principal analyst at Parks Associat...

San Francisco’s new smart homes see you coming

Smart home device revenue is expected to jump 40% from $10.7 billion in 2024 to 15 billion in 2029, according to data from Parks Associates, a consumer tech market research firm. From the article,...

Amazon Brings Alexa+ to the Web as AI Competition Heats Up

Amazon has devices and services that span nearly every facet of a consumer’s life, from entertainment — Prime Video, Fire TV — to smart home — Ring, Echo — to retail — Amazon marketplace, Whole Fo...