CM|IP Comment: Video streaming booms during COVID-19 pandemic
Over the last year, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic changed our lives as we knew them. With social distancing and travel restrictions in place, many people were working from home (and continue to do so).
The bright spot for our industry is that video streaming ramped up significantly in 2020, both in
terms of subscribers and revenues.
Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) customers reached 217.6 million in Q3 2020, the
highest ever, surpassing the previous record of 211.7 million in Q4 2018, according to a recent
report from Strategy Analytics.
All of the extra time that people have spent at home during the pandemic — combined with the
launch of new services like Disney+ — played a hand in helping to boost streaming consumption. At
one point last year, OTT consumption was up more than 74% compared with the previous year.
OTT Investments are Paying Off
There’s no longer any doubt about whether it’s worth investing in video streaming. Despite the
economic downturn in 2020, we saw OTT service providers generating revenues and profits like never
before.
OTT revenues are projected to reach $167 billion by 2025, approximately double the revenues of
2019 ($83 billion). Digital TV Research estimated that about $16 billion alone was added in 2020.
So, what’s the next step?
Meeting Subscriber Demands is Essential
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, video streaming subscriptions have not only been stable, but
they have also grown. The average U.S. SVOD household today has four different services, compared
with three services prior to the start of COVID-19.
As consumer demand for video streaming remains strong, OTT service providers need to focus on
building up subscriber loyalty and improving customer satisfaction with their service.
Consumers have many choices when it comes to video streaming services. If you want to stand out
and differentiate yourself from the competition, you need to provide fresh new content and a
larger library of content than other services. You must offer advanced features like live,
low-latency streaming.
The quality of experience you are delivering has to be exceptional and consistent across all
devices. Research shows that viewers will abandon a video stream if startup takes longer than two
seconds!
Consumers desire curated content. So you need to make the video streaming experience personalized,
with optimized content recommendations.
On the technology front, it’s imperative to invest in solutions to protect your exclusive content
from the threat of piracy. AI technology is helping to optimize OTT experiences, and the cloud is
showing that it’s effective at reducing capex and opex for service providers.
Finally, generating sustainable revenue for streaming services is crucial. SVOD and AVOD services
are gaining traction in our industry, and it’s important to keep an eye on those business models.
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Be a Part of Media and Entertainment’s Future at Connected Media|IP
With OTT streaming booming, the time has never been better than to engage with your customers. At the 2021 NAB Show — 10-13 October 2021, Las Vegas Convention Center — Connected Media|IP is the place to do it.
Over the next few months, we’ll be revealing more details about Connected Media|IP presentation topics, panel debate themes, and more. After the year we’ve had, Connected Media|IP will be a great opportunity to meet with customers, partners and industry experts face to face and stay on top of the latest OTT trends. To find out additional information:
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