More than half of US OTT homes subscribe to multiple services

More than 50% of US over-the-top subscription households subscribe to multiple video streaming services, compared to just 20% in 2014, according to Parks Associates.

The research firm said that of these multi-OTT homes, 81% use Netflix plus another service or combination of services – typically Amazon or Hulu.

Brett Sappington

“A common assumption is that consumers who pay for multiple subscription OTT video services would not need to, or have time to, use free OTT video service options. Yet, we find the opposite to be the case,” said Parks Associates’ senior director of research, Brett Sappington.

“Only 30% of households subscribing to one subscription service use at least one free, ad-supported online video service. That number jumps to 47% of households subscribing to three subscription services and 63% if a household subscribes to five or more services.”

Overall Parks claims that 69% of US broadband households subscribe to at least one OTT video service. However, with the exception of Netflix and Amazon Prime, OTT services are experiencing churn rates exceeding 50% of their subscriber base.

Separately, new smart home research by Parks predicts that by 2021 more than 10 million smart home controllers – like Amazon Echo or Google Home speakers – will be sold in the US, and more than eight million will be sold through retail or other related channels.

The ‘US Smart Home Tracker: Market Sizing and Trends’ report claims that 26% of smart home owners bought their devices from brick-and-mortar retail stores like Best Buy, Home Depot, or Walmart.