According to Parks Associates, U.S. broadband households report their average monthly expenditure on video entertainment outside of a pay TV subscription has dropped from $29 in the past two years to $23 in the last half of 2017. The research house says spending on Internet video has held steady at roughly $9 per month for several years, while reduced spending on cinema tickets and DVDs/Blu-ray discs contributed significantly to the overall decline. Other Parks research also indicates a decline in multiplatform usage among households, as use rates on individual screens declined despite the fact that overall video viewing has held steady.
"The number of overall consumers viewing video on a connected device remains steady at 92% of U.S. broadband households, but viewers are using fewer devices to access that content," said Brett Sappington, Parks' senior director. "This finding indicates that consumers are starting to settle into particular viewing habits. They are focusing more on their favorite screen and connected devices and are reducing time spent on other video screens."
The research firm also notes that many viewers want access to their over-the-top (OTT) services through their pay TV set-top box. Currently, one-fifth of pay TV subscribers have the ability to access online video services through their set-top box, and one-third of pay TV subscribers say access to OTT via a pay TV user interface (UI) or channel guide is appealing.
"Users are experimenting less with multiple connected devices, but they continue to experiment with multiple OTT video services," said Hunter Sappington, Parks research analyst. "Many consumers now see OTT video as complementary to both other OTT video services and pay TV services, rather than a replacement. Today's OTT market is much more about bundling and partnerships than it is about winning subscribers from direct competitors."
Other findings indicate:
- The increasing number of partnerships between pay TV and OTT providers is driving the number of U.S. pay TV households subscribing to an online video service through their pay TV provider from 10% a year ago to 21% now.
- Households watch an average of 14.6 hours per week of video on a TV screen.