Parks Associates: COVID-19 Will Drive Greater Usage of TVOD Services in 2020

OTT Video Market Tracker analyzes impact of new and existing video services in OTT space

News provided by

May 07, 2020, 08:48 ET

DALLAS, May 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Parks Associates, ahead of the release of COVID-19 Impact on Communications and Entertainment, predicts consumer usage of TVOD (transactional video on-demand) service will increase significantly in 2020. The firm's OTT Video Market Tracker reports that in Q1 2020, 14% of US broadband households had used a TVOD service over the past 30 days, a five-point increase from the previous year. This service type, which includes Amazon Prime Video, FandangoNOW, and VUDU, will spike as more content moves online, including early access to theatrical releases such as Trolls World Tour or The Invisible Man.

Parks Associates: OTT Services by Business Model, over Past 30 Days

"The idea of streaming current in-theater films was once a concept from a proposed streaming service called The Screening Room," said Steve Nason, Research Director, Parks Associates. "This service never officially launched, but the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the concept behind it into reality. Many steps in content windowing were narrowing already, but the current shelter-in-place orders pushed the digital distribution of new theatrical content to the front to offset the lost revenue from closed movie theaters."

Parks Associates notes that Disney fast-tracked the release of blockbuster titles through its SVOD service Disney+. The company released Frozen II three months before its original planned release and added Onward to the streaming service much quicker than previously anticipated. Parks Associates notes that Disney and other studios are continuing to weigh if they should release new theatrical titles straight to VOD platforms and services or push back these titles so they can premiere in theaters as originally intended, when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

"By moving more prime content online earlier, studios also increase the risk of piracy for their top-dollar assets," Nason said. "Early window content has always been a target among pirates, but they've had to sneak cameras into theaters and bootleg low-quality recordings. Now, with releases going digital, pirated video will be higher quality, while consumers might feel emboldened to tap into pirated video since theaters are closed. This will put more pressure on the antipiracy efforts among video content and service providers."

Parks Associates has multiple deliverables covering the OTT and pay-TV market space:

OTT Video Market Tracker: 25% of US broadband households recently used a free ad-based OTT service
Adoption and Consumer Habits for vMVPD Services: Online pay-TV services have significantly higher Net Promoter Scores (NPS) than traditional pay-TV services
Today's Broadcast TV: TV antenna penetration has grown 67% in the last year

For information, contact [email protected].

To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific research data, please contact Rosey Ulpino at [email protected], 972.996.0233.

About Parks Associates
Parks Associates is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research, custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service subscriptions.

The company's expertise includes digital media and platforms, entertainment and gaming, home networks, Internet and television services, digital health, mobile applications and services, support services, consumer apps, advanced advertising, consumer electronics, energy management, and home control systems and security.

Each year, Parks Associates hosts industry webinars, the CONNECTIONS™ Conference Series, Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers, Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, and Future of Video: OTT, Pay TV, and Digital Media. http://www.parksassociates.com

Media Contact:
Rosimely Ulpino
Parks Associates
972.996.0233
[email protected]

SOURCE Parks Associates