Digital TV Research: OTT Revenues Hit $68 Billion

According to new figures from Digital TV Research, global online TV episode and movie revenues reached $68 billion in 2018, up from $51 billion in 2017 and up by $30 billion on 2016.

From the 138 countries covered in the OTT TV and Video Databook, the top five garnered 71 percent of the global revenues by 2018. OTT revenues exceeded $1 billion in ten countries in 2018.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “The U.S. added $6.5 billion in revenues in 2018, with China up by $3.6 billion. Therefore, the U.S. and China were together responsible for more than half the world’s additional revenues in 2018.”

SVOD became the largest OTT revenue source in 2014, when it overtook AVOD. SVOD’s share reached 53 percent last year. SVOD revenues grew by $11 billion in 2018 to $36 billion—up by 44 percent in the year. AVOD revenues increased by $5 billion in 2018 to bring its total to $22 billion.