The surging penetration of the internet and smart devices, increasing average internet speeds, and soaring use of video on demand (VoD) services are the major factors fueling the expansion of the global over-the-top (OTT) services market. The market generated revenue of $91,881.6 million in 2020 and is predicted to surge sharply during 2021–2030, according to P&S Intelligence.
The COVID-19 pandemic has positively impacted the growth of the OTT services market. The announcement of multiple lockdowns and stringent social distancing protocols has brought the cinema and theatre industry to a halt. This was because cinema halls and theatres all over the word were shut down because of the lockdowns, thereby halting the release of movies. Similarly, many major sports events were postponed, canceled, or were organized behind closed doors, which caused a sharp fall in revenue generation. However, the OTT platforms benefited from these measures, as they were able to show sporting events and movies under the pay-per-view model. Further, the lockdowns gave people time to consume online content and thus, the viewership rates of major streaming platforms increased massively during the pandemic.
The OTT services market is divided into music streaming, online gaming, and VoD communication, depending on type. Out of these, the online gaming category is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period. Internet connected gaming consoles such as Xbox One, Wii U, and Sony PlayStation 4, enable online gaming. Furthermore, these games are usually very expensive, which massively contributes to the high revenue generation of the online gaming category in the market.
The surging use of tablets and smartphones and the increasing internet penetration are the main factors propelling the expansion of the smartphones and tablets category, under the streaming device segment of the OTT services market. For instance, as per the World Bank data, the share of internet users in the global population grew from 34.2% in 2012 to 51.1% in 2019. Further, the usage convenience offered by these products and their portability and their ability to allow users to download and stream high-quality content as per their choice are also driving the growth of this category in the market.
Globally, North America held the largest share in the OTT services market in 2020. This is ascribed to the fact that the people in this region extensively avail OTT services and consume content provided by OTT platforms, on account of their high disposable income. Additionally, the high penetration of the internet is also fueling the popularity of OTT services in the region.
During the forecast period, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is predicted to be the fastest-growing market for OTT services. This is attributed to the presence of a large population, growing smartphone user base, and surging internet penetration in the developing countries such as China and India.
The players operating in the OTT services market are focusing on mergers and acquisitions and service launches for bolstering their position in the industry. For example, The Walt Disney Company completed the acquisition of the Indian OTT giant Hotstar in July 2020 and renamed it to Disney + Hotstar. This acquisition took nearly one year to materialize and The Walt Disney Company predicts to compete with various regional video streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.
Likewise, telecom operator Jio announced in July 2020 that it will introduce 12 OTT apps, such as Amazon Prime, Voot, Disney + Hotstar, SonyLiv, Netflix, Zee5, YouTube, JioSaavn, and JioCinema under its application Jio TV+, which will make these services available on a single platform that can be viewed on TVs.
Some of the major OTT services market players are Roku Inc., Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., The Walt Disney Company, Facebook Inc., Google LLC (YouTube), Kakao Corp, Rakuten Inc., and Telstra Corporation Ltd.
