A new survey from Parks Associates suggests that 76% of U.S. broadband households subscribe to a video streaming service.
The firm’s research – which covered 10,000 U.S. heads of broadband households from March 8 and April 3 – shows that the total has increased by six million households since the first quarter of 2019.
Parks’ research also suggests adoption of virtual MVPDs including YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV and Sling TV has increased to 12% of U.S. broadband households.
"We are closely tracking shifts in technology use at home, as shelter-in-place orders have continued as a result of COVID-19," said Steve Nason, research director at Parks Associates, in a statement. "Consumers are experimenting with watching video on different services and different devices. We anticipate a number of changes to occur, including higher consumption combined with reduced spending per month on services, which could boost ad-based services, as well as shifts in what content consumers are watching."
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With most Americans on stay at home orders while the nation tries to slow the spread of coronavirus, streaming video services have become busier. Nielsen’s latest data found that even though the 154.6 billion total hours spent streaming during the week of April 13 was down slightly from the previous week, it was still close to twice as much as the company recorded for the same week of 2019.
The uptick in usage for services like Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu and Netflix – along with upcoming launches for services like HBO Max – has led some in the industry to adjust revenue models for SVODs.
According to the Consumer Technology Association’s Special 2020 Industry Forecast Update, after assessing the COVID-19 Impact, revised projections expect video streaming spending to reach between $24-$25 billion in revenue, up 29-35% over 2019.