Analysis

An increasing number of U.S. audiences are opting to subscribe to more than one SVOD service, GfK research indicates, with that number rising from 10 percent of the viewing population to 16 percent in three years. The data was released in a new report from GfK’s The Home Technology Monitor, which describes these subs as “self-bundling” viewers, paying for combinations of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and other streaming services.

The new Magid Media Futures survey reports that 42 percent of American consumers between the ages of 8 and 64 are very or somewhat interested in VR content, from movies and TV shows to gaming and travel experiences. At the other end of the spectrum, 24 percent of those surveyed reported having no interest at all in VR.

Media rights will be the largest contributor to sports revenues in North America by 2018, PwC reports, with live streaming helping to fuel competition in the sector. At the Gate and Beyond explores the North American sports market through 2020. PwC valued the North American sports market at $63.9 billion in 2015, forecasting this will rise to $75.7 billion in 2020.

Magid’s annual Magid Media Futures survey has revealed that more respondents than ever intend to cut the pay-TV cord, canceling their pay-TV service and not signing up for a new one. This year, 5.7 percent of respondents said they were “very likely” to cut the cord. This compares to 3.8 percent of pay-TV subscribers last year and under 2 percent when Magid first conducted the study in 2011.

OTT video service adoption has increased 12 percent among U.S. broadband households since 2014, according to Parks Associates data. Parks Associates notes that adoption of OTT video subscriptions has increased by 12 percent since Q3 2014, with the number of available services and consumer awareness both increasing, despite password sharing growing by approximately 8 percent over that same time.

Impacted by the rise of the sharing economy, the uptake of renting and buying individual movies and TV shows has yet to take off in the digital marketplace, according to a GfK study. The report, part of GfK’s The Home Technology Monitor, shows that many consumers continue to prize their DVDs and other physical media. Viewers are less likely to add to their video libraries with intangible digital copies.

Looking down the line at the next ten years, SNL Kagan has given a sunny outlook for what's ahead in the U.S. cable industry. Residential revenues are projected to increase from $108.38 billion in 2016 to $117.7 billion in 2026, or $9.32 billion over the ten-year period.

The ten leading pay-TV services in the U.S. lost 663,000 subscribers between them in the second quarter of 2016, according to the latest informitv Multiscreen Index, which emphasizes how mergers and acquisitions have reshaped this segment.

Second-quarter deal volume in the entertainment, media and communications sector in the U.S. rose by 3 percent to 188 announced transactions, PwC reports. Deal value was also up, hitting $41 billion, the highest it's been in 12 months.

New findings from GfK reveal that one-quarter (25 percent) of all U.S. TV households are now going without cable and satellite reception.