According to a new study from Parks Associates, the number of US broadband households watching online content doubled in the last year. The study, entitled Broadband Communications, and Entertainment Bundles, says that over 25 million U.S. households regularly watch full-length TV shows online.
Helping to drive this growth is strong consumer interest in using broadband connections as a sort of virtual digital video server, the availability of full-length HD movies and TV shows from Netflix, Amazon and others, and the availability of affordable set-top boxes that connect to the Internet and remove the personal computer from the equation entirely.
There is a high degree of urgency on the part of IPTV and cable operators to move forward in delivering HD — even at some point 1080p HD shows and movies — via broadband, says Parks Associate research analyst Jayant Dasari. "This is setting the stage for value-added services," he says. "Operators see this as a way to increase ARPU [average revenue per user]."
For several years, cable TV and IPTV providers have sought to win subscribers over and increase ARPU by bundling voice, video, wireless and broadband. However, because both cable and IPTV operators have rounded out their bundles, the only thing left to compete on is price, he says. The concept of making video — even HD video — ubiquitous via broadband gives operators an opportunity to reinvigorate the business model with new offerings, he adds.
According to a research by NPD, Americans are now spending around $115 per month per household on subscription media services. That’s up 7% from a year ago.NPD said that the print media usage continued its decline from last year, while television, DVRs, satellite radio, subscription music, mobile phone data, internet access, online gaming continues to grow.
