The current state of the pay TV market worries the industry, because many see OTT services as voracious competitors. Brett Sappington, Senior Research Director at Parks Associates dissipated these fears in the first presentation of the Pay TV Show, held in Denver, Colorado.
Sappington showed optimistic graphs regarding the growth of the relation between traditional pay TV companies and new actors in the market. He said that those who have never had pay TV don’t know what they’re missing, but it is the obligation of operators to show them what they’re missing.
In that sense, he highlighted that 52% of users in the US have a pay TV subscription and one or more OTT video services. He said that only 17% have exclusively OTT video services.
He assured that consumer expectations have changed. “Many users have become familiar with pay TV programming guides and upon discovering the personalization tools provided by online services to improve the experience, they have increased their use.”
Regarding the Latin American market, he pointed out that it is a market full of opportunities. “It is a region of growth, where possibilities to incorpórate Netflix and other services are arriving, as we have seen in other places, as a complement to the offer and pay TV operator packages.”