DALLAS—Consumers don’t seem to be letting the advent of a variety of new streaming services burn a hole in their wallets. According to OTT video research by Parks Associates, the average household spending on subscription OTT video services has held steady at $8 per month for the past three years.
While some customers have purchased multiple streaming services or more expensive packages since 2016, the research indicates that group is offset by a large base of consumers only subscribing to one or two relatively inexpensive services. That base also includes the 30 percent of consumers who do not currently spend on an OTT video service.
However, Parks Associates recognizes that things could change soon.
“The stability in average household spend belies the activity going on under the surface,” said Brett Sappington, senior director of research for Parks Associates. “2019 may be poised to break that trend. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon continue to pack on new subscribers. At the same time, services like ESPN+ are also experiencing phenomenal growth, and new offerings from Disney and WarnerMedia are set for release later this summer. One of three things will happen—more households will become OTT streaming households, rival services will begin to pull subscribers away from Netflix or that spending number will go up.”
Still, according to Parks Associates findings, the average spending on OTT video services is the most popular form of video entertainment when compared with the average monthly expenditure of going to the movies or buying/renting Blu-ray discs or DVDs, as shown in the graph above.
