Advanced Television

Report: OTT US generates $12bn

April 18, 2018

OTT access revenue in the US topped $11.9 billion (€9.6bn) in 2017, a 41 per cent increase over the prior year and is expected to maintain that momentum for the foreseeable future, according to the Convergence Research Group study, The Battle for the American Couch Potato: OTT, TV, Online.

The report says OTT revenue (based on 55 providers, led by Netflix) is expected to reach $16.6 billion in 2018, a 40 per cent gain over 2017, and $27.6 billion in 2020.

At the same time, US cable, satellite and telco TV access revenue grew just 1 per cent in 2017, to $107.6 billion, and should slip in the coming years. Convergence estimates that traditional pay-TV revenue should dip to $107.4 billion in 2018 and $106.9 billion by 2020.

Pay-TV lost an estimated 3.66 million subscribers in 2017, up from 2.2 million in 2016, and should lose another 3.72 million in 2018, according to Convergence. The growth in OTT services – Convergence gathered data from about 55 different over-the-top providers for the study – is again the culprit.

Convergence estimates 32.13 million US households, or 26.1 per cent of homes, did not have a traditional TV subscription at the end of 2017, up from 27.56 million (22.6 per cent of homes) in 2016. The researcher forecasts 36.76 million (29.6 per cent of homes) will not have a traditional pay-TV subscription by the end of this year.

Categories: Articles, Markets, OTT, Research