As cord-cutting has grown exponentially, it’s no secret that OTT services and networks have outshined cable, satellite, and pay TV networks. This is especially true for states across the US; OTT continues to grow as pay TV declines. However, data analysts have noted that there are still many parts of the world where pay TV is still growing at a fast pace, but not nearly as much as OTT.
Around The World
In many countries around the world, pay TV is predominantly used, as OTT networks are preferred in other regions. On a global scale, Digital Pay TV subscriptions, such as cable, satellite, and IPTV, are still on the rise. At the end of 2017, pay TV reached 1 billion in sales. Even though that is a substantial number, OTT services are still growing more profitable.
The Asia-Pacific region of the world is responsible for 83% of pay TV network subscriptions–most of which are driven by the IPTV growth within China. In addition to this data, researchers noted that the spike in smartphone usage and other improvements made in the mobile network has spurred a drive in OTT network subscriptions that was three times as many as pay TV, proving that no matter the region of the world and the usage of pay TV they contribute to, OTT networks are still surpassing them.
In Western Europe, subscriptions to OTT networks have gained traction even faster than the US and the Asia-Pacific region. In fact, for every newly purchased pay TV subscription, there were eight OTT subscriptions being matched. Currently, Central and Eastern Europe have a pay TV and OTT subscription scale that are equal to one another. However, with the constant updates being made to smartphones, tablets, and other devices, researchers are confident that OTT services will start to increase more in those two areas.
In The U.S
In the US there are still many consumers who use pay TV services. However, of those consumers, nearly 55% claim that the only reason they invest in pay TV services is due to the broadband plan that’s bundled into their service. Since cord-cutting became popular in the US, there has been a significant decline in the use of pay TV, including cable and satellite.
By the end of 2017, media analysts noted a decrease in digital pay TV by 3 million US homes. In light of this decline, OTT soared by 30 million. In a digital media trend survey conducted by Deloitte, analysts discovered that more than half of households in the United States are currently subscribed to a variety of OTT networks.
In addition to these results, the researchers of Deloitte also discovered that 55% of their participants subscribe to at least one video streaming service. In this discovery, data shows that this is actually a 450% increase since 2009. Additionally, Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends showed that the average US OTT customer is paying for approximately 3 different OTT platforms.
In total, US consumers have contributed to a $2 billion monthly average on streaming services. While this number is sure to increase, pay TV is taking quite the hit in the US. Currently, pay TV subscriptions declined to 63% of households that were once held at 75% in 2017. According to IHS Market, for every new subscription to a pay TV network, there were three more subscriptions for OTT services such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, etc (source)..
To break down their results even further, Deloitte even looked at the number of hours spent watching streaming content. They found that the average American watches approximately 38 hours of video content each week. Of that, 39% is through streaming networks. Deloitte also notes that nearly half of US consumers stream TV content every single day, contributing to an 11% increase in over a year.
