Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

On a Netflix free trial? A third of you will likely pay up

Almost one out of three people who use a free trial to try out a streaming video service end up subscribing, researcher Parks Associates said Monday.

That "sizeable portion" of trial users dwarfs the amount of people who abuse free try-outs, Parks senior analyst Glenn Hower said.

"There is a potential for free trial abuse, but only roughly 1 percent of consumers are 'serial trialers,'" he said. "Most consumers use trials for their intended purpose of trying out a service before deciding whether or not to continue as a paid subscriber."

Services, such as Hulu, Netflix and live-TV streamers like Sling TV, often offer a free period, one of the consumer-friendly patterns that have become standard for online video competitors -- and have made it easier for people get a sense of life as a cord-cutter. Traditional TV providers like cable and satellite have grappled with dwindling customer growth as more people opt for online alternatives.

From the article "On a Netflix free trial? A third of you will likely pay up" by Joan E. Solsman.

Previously In The News

Smart Home Goal: No Doorbell Left Behind

In a second-quarter 2016 survey of on-line households, research company Parks Associates found that 50 percent of smart-doorbell owners use the devices to see who's at the door when they're not home,...

Amazon Prime Music Still ‘Most Popular’ US Subscription Service

Unsurprisingly, Amazon has never announced a specific figure for Prime Music listeners, although the company’s digital music boss Steve Boom said last year that “Prime Music has several million people...

Hulu Is Slowing, Hits 12 Million Subscribers Versus Netflix’s 81 Million

But growing membership is harder to keep up at the same clip for all streaming services, as more and more companies launch their own online platforms. As consumers shift more of their entertainment di...

SVODs Are Hot, But Subscribers Are Still Fickle

A new study from Dallas-based research firm Parks Associates has found that 20% of US broadband households (approximately 90 million homes) cancelled at least one OTT or SVOD subscription in 2015....