Top OTT Statistics: Market, Live Streaming, OTT Apps, Advertising

In just a few years, over-the-top (OTT) services have gone from being a niche streaming option to one of the most popular ways to watch TV. In fact, streaming video content had a higher audience share and bigger revenue than cable TV this year.

As the industry continues to grow, marketers and entrepreneurs need to stay up-to-date on the latest OTT statistics. 

Below are some of the most interesting stats from 2023 thus far. Keep in mind that these numbers are likely to change as the market evolves, so make sure to check back often!

Top 9 Over-The-Top statistics for 2023

Revenue from the OTT industry continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, and it’s expected to more than double in the next 4 years. More than half of the revenue came from advertising, while 40% came from subscriptions.

Here are the top 9 OTT statistics that prove how much the OTT industry has grown when it comes to revenue:

• Media revenue from OTT is expected to surpass $210 billion by 2026. This is nearly double the amount of revenue in 2020, which was $106 billion. (Digital TV Research)
• Audience spent nearly 30% of their total TV time watching over-the-top video content in March 2022. (Nielsen)
• When streaming video, 65% of the time it’s done on mobile and TV apps rather than on browsers. (Uscreen)
• Ninety-three percent of American adults access streaming video platforms, while only 40 percent have cable or satellite service. (CordCutting)
• The average viewer spends $50 monthly on streaming services across four different platforms, with Netflix being the most popular. (CordCutting)
• One in three of the remaining cable/satellite subscribers would cancel their connections if their preferred sports content was available on streaming platforms. (CordCutting)
• The SVOD market is expected to grow by 52% by 2025, whilst the total OTT revenue is predicted to jump 53% in the same time, totaling $272 billion. (Statista)
• With 38 hours of content consumed each month, we’re spending nearly a full work week watching videos on mobile apps. (DataAI)
• 80% of users watch YouTube on their mobile devices while only 50% of the respondents reported watching movies. (Penthera)
• 14% of OTT users reported that they watched fitness videos on their mobile devices. (Penthera)

OTT market revenue & overview statistics

The OTT market share and revenue are becoming more massive each year, thanks to the yearly growth of subscriptions globally. 

Interested in a slice of the OTT pie? Here are statistics on its growth rates and some other valuable metrics for you. 

• The global OTT video market size— $238 billion in 2021 — is expected to top $476 billion by 2027. Today, the U.S. accounts for about 46% of that global market size. (Global Logic)
• Revenue in the OTT Video market is projected to reach US$294.90bn in 2023. (Statista)
• Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2023-2027) of 7.73%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$397.20bn by 2027. (Statista)
• The largest market is OTT Video Advertising with a market volume of US$176.60bn in 2023. (Statista)
• In global comparison, most revenue will be generated in the United States (US$126,500.00m in 2023). (Statista)
• In the OTT Video market, the number of users is expected to amount to 4.2bn users by 2027. (Statista)
• User penetration will be 45.7% in 2023 and is expected to hit 53.0% by 2027. (Statista)
• The average revenue per user (ARPU) in the OTT Video market is projected to amount to US$84.08 in 2023. (Statista)
• Revenue from global subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) is predicted to surpass $126 billion dollars by 2026. (Digital TV Research)
• The average revenue per user (ARPU) in the Video Streaming (SVOD) market is projected to amount to US $249.50. (Statista)
• 82% of US consumers have a video streaming subscription, with 4 subscriptions being the average, compared to 67% of people having a pay-TV subscription in 2021. (Deloitte Insights)
• The leading markets for OTT video services in Asia-Pacific are the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia. (SpotX)
• The Asia-Pacific region will increase OTT TV and movie revenue by 90% to $54bn by 2026. (Digital TV Research)
• By 2026, Latin America will have 116 million subscribers to OTT streaming platforms, with Brazil and Mexico being leading markets for distributors. (Research and Markets)
• Projections indicate that the number of OTT video users in India will reach a staggering 4,216.3 million by 2027, with a user penetration rate of 53.0%. (Times of India)
• Global AVOD revenues to hit $91bn by 2028. (Digital TV Research)
• Global SVOD subscriptions will increase by 400m between 2022 and 2028 to reach 1.76bn. (Digital TV Research)
• Revenue in the Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD) market is projected to reach US$10.20bn in 2023, with the an average revenue per user (ARPU) at $13.57
• Global pay TV revenues will fall to $125bn in 2028 from $151 billion recorded in 2022. (Digital TV Research)
• Global Free Ad-Supported Streaming (FAST) revenues for TV series and movies will reach $18bn in 2028, triple from $6bn in 2022. (Digital TV Research)
• US connected TV (CTV) ad spend will continue to grow through 2027, when it will reach $40.90 billion. (Insider Intelligence)
• OTT video subscription revenues will hit $50.56 billion this year, an increase of 12.5% YoY. Revenues will climb to $64.12 billion by the end of 2026. (Insider Intelligence)

OTT platforms and apps statistics

Streaming media onto phones and TV through apps continues to expand in both expected and unexpected ways.

TV apps and mobile video is a valuable market to be in and one that Uscreen supports creators with. We can already see from our own numbers that having an OTT app makes great business sense due largely to smartphone innovations.

• Hub Entertainment Research confirms that US consumers continue to expand their SVOD services. The company says 50% subscribe to three or more of the big five SVODs (Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, HBO Max, Disney+) (Hub Entertainment Research)
• Data from Digital TV Research predicts revenue from global OTT TV episodic and movies will reach US$243 billion by 2028, a rise of US$86 billion on 2022 revenues (US$157 billion), with roughly US$17 billion forecast to be generated in 2023. (Digital TV Research)
• More than one in four streamers plans to cancel at least one of their subscriptions this year. Forty-four percent said they’re canceling due to a lack of interesting content. (CordCutting)
• Globally, there are 6.92 billion smartphones capable of running apps, with 83.72% of the world’s population owning one. (Bank My Cell)
• The most popular mobile operating system across all markets is Android with a 70.9% share of the market, with iOS on 28.36%. (GlobalStats StatCounter)
• In the US and Canada, Apple has a much larger mobile market, with iOS earning 54.22% market share to Android’s 45.38%. (GlobalStats StatCounter) 
• Whilst at the other end of the scale, in the South American smartphone market, iOS is only on 14.46% of devices compared to 85.12% that Android is on. (GlobalStats StatCounter)
• When streaming video, 65% of the time it’s done on mobile and TV apps, rather than on browsers. (Uscreen)
• The most popular OTT TV app in North America as of Q1 2021, was Roku, with a 37% share of TV viewing time across the continent. (Conviva)
• The sports rights spending of subscription OTT services will increase by more than $3 billion this year to reach $8.5 billion worldwide. (Ampere Analysis)

OTT advertising statistics

As a marketer, could you even have imagined the size of the OTT ad market just a few years ago?

Ad spend and ad revenue across OTT video have skyrocketed, and the data tells us that it’s only going to get bigger.

Is it effective? Are users paying attention to all these screens at hand? Let’s take a look at how OTT advertising is reaching the masses.

• OTT video advertising is set to have ad revenues of $191.30 billion by 2024, which is more than half of all OTT revenues. (Statista)
• TV ad spend still significantly exceeds streaming’s spend. In 2023, US subscription over-the-top (sub OTT) ad spend will reach about one-sixth of linear TV ad spend. (Insider Intelligence)
• Programmatic impressions of marketing campaigns increased by 207% on connected TVs in the USA. (Innovid)
• When OTT viewers own a second screen, 65% of them will look up product information on the other screen whilst watching content on their main screen. (Video Advertising Bureau)
• In general, 43% of Americans are okay with advertising in return for free OTT content. (Statista)
• The total number of users of AVOD services is set to increase to 3.349 billion people by 2025. (Statista)
• Global OTT video market expects user penetration to increase by 34.8% by 2025. (Statista Advertising & Media Outlook; Statista)
• Global revenues from streamed TV and movies will reach $159 billion by 2024. (Digital TV Research)
• The average revenue per user (ARPU) for OTT video advertising is expected to hit $52.25 by 2025, an increase of 72% over five years. (Statista)
• The total digital video advertising spending in the US is expected to increase to $250 billion by 2023. (eMarketer)

OTT streaming services statistics

The way we consume content has been changing slowly for years. More and more people are streaming content on their mobile phones as OTT continues to evolve. 

Netflix was the most popular streaming service, with the most subscribers. But the competition in this industry is tough. It’s hard to retain subscribers, especially when there is less exclusive and new content. 

Here are some statistics about how OTT viewers use different services.

• Top 5 streaming platforms as of 2023 are: (CordCutting)
  • Netflix(73%)
  • Amazon (67%)
  • Hulu (52%)
  • Disney+ (42%)
  • Max (39%)
• One recent survey shows that almost all US consumers, 98% to be precise, subscribe to at least one OTT streaming media app. (Brightback Report 2021)
• 75% of Americans have 2 or more subscriptions, a sign of things to come as people hop between services to get the content they want. (Brightback Report 2021)
• As the global pandemic took hold in 2020, 36% of consumers say it was a direct driver of them taking on a new OTT subscription. (Brightback Report 2021)
• Netflix is the biggest OTT service in the US in terms of revenue, with 30.8% of all subscription revenues heading their way. (eMarketer)
• The second biggest SVOD service for revenue in 2021 is Disney, which held 25.9% of the market. (eMarketer)
• With more than 201 million subscribers, Netflix was the most popular streaming service worldwide in 2021. Amazon ranked second with 117 million subscribers. (Digital TV Research)
• However, based on cancellation rates on Netflix in 2022, Disney+ could be the leading streaming service by 2026, kicking Netflix and Amazon Prime Video from the top spots. (Digital TV Research)

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OTT live streaming statistics

Whether it’s global sporting events, your favorite musician, or hours of computer games, OTT live streaming has become a huge business. 

• By 2023, it’s forecasted that live video viewers in the US will reach 163.4 million. (Insider Intelligence)
• People spent around 548 billion hours streaming through mobile devices in 2021. (Infogram)
• Live video streaming is expected to have a revenue of $184.27 billion by 2027. (Grand View Research) 
• Live streaming accounts for 23% of global viewing time. (Conviva)
• Globally, 41% of internet users have watched a live stream. (Adobe)
• Number of live streams for the online learning industry rose by 120% from 2021 to 2022. (Uscreen internal data)
• The total watch time for the faith & spirituality industry rose by 300% in a year. (Uscreen internal data)
• The average live stream duration increased by 30% in 2021. (Uscreen) 
• There were 5900 average live streams created by Uscreen users each month, and an average of 46,000 users watched a live stream per month in 2021. (Uscreen)
• The total watched time of live streams on the Uscreen platform was 338,000 hours in 2021.
• The most popular live stream on the Uscreen platform in 2021 had 318,000 views. (Uscreen)

OTT TV statistics

While TV has been a mainstay in family homes since broadcast TV in the US began in 1947, where we get our content from has been changing in the last few years. 

Watching content from the internet is changing what we watch and how we pay for it, and here’s what you need to know when you’re considering starting or expanding your OTT TV business.

• Pay TV subscribers are expected to increase to over 1 billion in 2026. (Digital TV Research)
• 66% of users watch their SVOD providers through their pay TV set-top box. (Hub Entertainment Research)
• In June 2021, streaming services accounted for only 27% of total TV screen time in the US. Out of the 27%, 7% were from Netflix. (Nielsen)
• 54% of Connected TV viewers in the US are between 18 and 34 years old. (Digital TV Europe; Leichtman Research Group)
• 18% of US respondents have a Spectrum cable/satellite subscription. (Statista Global Consumer Survey)
• When creators launch an OTT TV app, their earnings increase on average by 30%. (Uscreen)
• On-demand video streaming services now strive for the dollars and loyalty of existing streaming customers. Asked what they prioritize when choosing television providers, respondents emphasized costs, content, and convenience. (CordCutting)

Consumer behavior statistics

How your audience accesses your content is vital to developing your content production and, by extension, your business. 

There are clear trends in the devices people use, how often they use them, and how devices, services, and platforms interact. 

This is what we’ve found when it comes to how consumers behave watching OTT content.

• Subscriptions are on the rise: 86% said they’ll pay for the same or more subscription services in 12 months as they do today. (Brightback Report 2021)
• With 38 hours of content consumed each month, we’re spending nearly a full work week watching videos on mobile apps. (DataAI)
• 45% more people are watching on-demand OTT services in Q1 2021 compared to the year before. (Conviva)
• In the UK and Germany, around 20% of viewing time on TVs is spent watching OTT content when both OTT and linear TV are available in the house. (Comscore)
• Consumers are downloading more apps, with streamers expected to download 85% more video streaming apps in the US in 2021, whilst in South Korea that number is 80%. (DataAI)
• Audiences engage with social media accounts of OTT publishers, with an increase in engagement of 24% over the year to Q1 2021. (Conviva)
• In the US, 49% of Netflix users also used TikTok. (DataAI)

OTT device usage statistics

With so many devices available to audiences, it’s clear there are some complex patterns with how they are used. 

The pandemic has given us more time with devices and increased demand across all of them, but where has the uplift been the strongest? 

• Smart TVs have seen the biggest growth in viewing time between 2020 and 2021, whilst tablets are being used 43% more often, desktops 38% more, and mobile phones have seen a 29% increase in use for streaming content. (Conviva)
• 82% of British people own a smartphone, 63% have an internet-enabled TV, and 41% own a gaming console connected to the internet. (Ofcom)
• There were 268 million smartphone units sold in Q2 2023. (Counterpoint)
• There was a 9% year-over-year decline in the global smartphone market distribution in Q2 2023. Shortage of components was identified as one of the main reasons for the deadline. (Counterpoint)
• China remained the largest smartphone market, which accounted for 22.5% of the market share. (Counterpoint)

Create your own OTT apps today

So there you have it, a comprehensive look at where the OTT industry is headed. We’ve seen growth across all fronts, and this is only the beginning. 

If you’re an entrepreneur or marketer looking to get ahead of the curve, now is the time to start planning your entry into the world of OTT. 

Uscreen is one of the easiest ways to enter this fast-paced industry. We have OTT services for whatever your business needs. Create a website, host your videos, get paid, integrate all your favorite tools, and jump into the trends. 

Get in touch to get a demo of everything we’ve got for you and get your business on the OTT train.

OTT stats FAQ

Which country uses OTT the most?

The over-the-top video (OTT video) market is expected to reach 90 percent penetration in Canada and the United Kingdom in 2022. Ranked second was New Zealand at 88.9 percent, as per Statista.

How big is the OTT market?

The global OTT video market size, which was $238 billion in 2021, is expected to top $476 billion by 2027. 

What is the size of the OTT market in the United States?

The United States has the largest market in OTT advertising with a volume of $76.97 billion in 2023. Compared to other countries, most OTT revenue will be generated in the United States, at approximately $126,500 million in 2023.

What are the benefits of OTT?

With OTT (Over-the-Top) services, you can watch films and TV on-demand on any device thanks to the internet. These platforms often offer cost-effective, personalized viewing experiences with vast content libraries and global accessibility. The OTT providers also have advanced analytics, multiple monetization models, and the goal of keeping content fresh.