More Than Half of U.S. OTT Subscribers Pay for Multiple Services

New research from Parks Associates finds that more than 50 percent of U.S. OTT-subscribing households pay for multiple over-the-top video services.

This compares to 20 percent who reported doing so in 2014. Of the multi-OTT households, 81 percent use Netflix plus some other service or combination of services, typically Amazon or Hulu.

“Not only are more households subscribing to OTT video services than ever before, but also the average number of subscriptions per household is increasing as well,” said Brett Sappington, senior director of research at Parks Associates. “The OTT video pie is getting bigger, and it is getting deeper as well. What we are seeing is consumers adding to the number of sources that they use to access interesting content. This growth is critical. It means that video services do not necessarily have to displace a Netflix or other large service in order to gain market share. Services can potentially find success as a complementary offering as well.”

Parks Associates’ OTT Video Market Tracker reports that consumers who pay for subscription OTT services are also more likely than non-subscribers to watch free online video services. Furthermore, the more OTT video subscriptions a consumer has, the more likely they are to use a free or freemium video service.

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