According to Parks Associates, more than 46 million households worldwide will subscribe to a 4K UltraHD pay TV service by 2018. The research house says pay TV providers will deploy the service as a differentiator, especially among younger consumers who are more likely to use new pay TV features, such as TV Everywhere and cloud DVR, but also have slightly lower subscription rates for pay TV services. In the United States, 82% of consumers 18-22 have a pay TV subscription, compared to 87% among older consumers.
Parks says 4K content delivery and the pace of production of 4K content are challenges.