Research firm Parks Associates says 17 percent of U.S. broadband homes are likely to subscribe to HBO's over-the-top, a la carte video service when it launches later this year.
Parks also found in a fourth-quarter survey of 10,000 broadband homes that around one half of those likely HBO OTT subscribers plan to cancel their pay-TV service after signing up for the streaming service. Currently, 91 percent of broadband homes in the U.S. are also pay-TV homes, Parks says.
For its part, HBO is targeting its OTT service to broadband homes that don't have pay-TV services.
"HBO picked a good time to announce its standalone HBO Go OTT service in the U.S.," said Glenn Hower, research analyst, Parks Associates. "The percentage of subscribers interested in OTT video services is trending upward, and more industry players are planning to launch their own OTT services. Dish announced at CES 2015 that its OTT service, Sling TV, will include live TV such as CNN, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, and TBS. Inclusion of sports programming could be a major boon for a standalone OTT service as sports is one of the primary reasons consumers elect to keep pay-TV services."
Added Brett Sappington, director of research for Parks: "2015 is set to be the year of OTT. Along with the new services from CBS, HBO, and DISH, we expect several other players to launch or announce services in the U.S. market in the next few months. In Canada, Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications unveiled their shomi online video service in November. In Europe, several players are standing up new OTT services to counter the entry of Netflix into their markets. Others are expanding their OTT offerings in order to reach customers both in their home markets and expatriates that want to watch programs from home."
Fore more:
- read this Parks Associates release
Related links:
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HBO's Plepler: OTT service isn't 'either/or, it's additive'