Over 85% of US millennials subscribe to OTT, says Parks

More than 85% of millennials in US broadband houses subscribe to at least one over-the-top (OTT) video service from providers like Netflix or Amazon, according to Parks Associates.

The research firm said that more than 25% of millennials subscribe to three or more OTT services and more than 50% subscribe to at least two.

“Overall penetration of subscription OTT video services among millennials has topped out, suggesting that those households that want such a subscription already have one or more,” said Brett Sappington, senior director of research at Parks Associates.

“The more interesting and important question is how many subscriptions they will keep.”

Millennials, a group categorised by Parks as being born in 1982 or later, were the largest consumers of over-the-top video, followed in succession by each older generation – ‘Gen X’, ‘Baby Boomers’ and ‘Mature’.

While less pronounced, the trend towards internet video services was also noted among non-millennial viewers, with OTT service penetration among baby boomers (born 1946-1964) and mature viewers (born 1945 and earlier) up 10% overall between 2016 and 2017.

“For consumers, self-aggregating content is simply part of the entertainment experience, particularly millennial households,” said Hunter Sappington, researcher, Parks Associates.

“Their evaluation criteria for services, and brand loyalty, differs from that of previous generations. To take advantage of this self-aggregation trend, providers need to understand the evaluation criteria consumers use for their OTT services, which can vary from household to household.”