Global OTT TV & Video Subs to Reach 2 Billion by 2025

Juniper Research is forecasting that there will be nearly 2 billion subscriptions to on-demand video services in 2025, a 65 percent increase from the end of 2020.

According to the new research, OTT TV & Video Streaming: Evolving Trends, Future Strategies & Market Forecasts 2020-2025, the driver for this growth will be from traditional broadcasters. The report finds that traditional broadcasters are turning to hybrid services, a combination of subscription- and advertising-supported monetization—such as NBC’s Peacock and CBS All Access, which offer tiered services that still generate subscription revenue but show advertisements in lower-priced bands in order to keep end-user prices down. Juniper Research predicts that these services will account for $1.4 billion in advertising spend in 2025.

The report also notes that, as subscription services become increasingly prominent, particularly in the U.S., different models will be needed to overcome subscription fatigue. Juniper Research estimates that in 2020 there was an average of four SVOD subscriptions per household in the U.S., but with growth slowing significantly from 2021.

“Thanks to this high level of market saturation, streaming providers need to keep their offerings competitive to retain subscribers,” said research co-author Nick Hunt. “Hybrid monetization is one way that VOD providers can keep their offerings low-cost, and therefore less likely to be dropped.”