Streaming's Slow Growth Masks Cable's Collapse

A new Parks Associates forecast shows the U.S. video market will hit $190.7 billion by 2030, but this modest growth is driven entirely by streaming as traditional pay-TV continues its slow-motion collapse.

• The price of choice: While total subscriptions are set to climb to 765 million, the cost for consumers is rising. The average household's monthly spending on video services is projected to peak at nearly $123 in 2028, a steep jump from just over $101 in 2020.

• Fewer viewers, more value: The game is changing from finding new customers to extracting more value from existing ones. "As the US video market matures, growth is no longer about adding new households — it's about optimizing value," said Michael Goodman, Research Director at Parks Associates, noting that consumers are stacking services and moving to ad-supported tiers.

With fewer than 35% of U.S. households expected to have a traditional pay-TV package by 2027, media companies are desperately trying to reduce churn through strategies like the "great rebundling" of streaming apps. The report paints a clear picture of a fundamentally transformed market where streaming is the economic engine and pay-TV is fading into a smaller, specialized segment.