Two little OTT milestones slip quietly by

Within the past few months, two little Over-the-Top (OTT) video milestones have been passed. At the end of 2016, the number of US OTT subscriptions passed the number of pay TV subscriptions for the first time. Then, at the end of Q1 2017, a global milestone was reached: OTT now accounts for one in five (20%) of all paid TV subscriptions globally. That these milestones slipped by with barely a whisper, speaks volumes about the position of OTT services as a given within the wider paid TV market. And while in quarter two 2017, the US looks set to suffer its second worst decline in traditional pay TV in history, elsewhere OTT is still positioned as largely complimentary to pay TV.

Consumers, though, are building there own, increasingly complex bundles of multiple OTT services that look more and more like traditional pay TV packs. Add in the rise of new virtual pay TV offers bringing the linear element of TV to the OTT space and the whole concept of what constitutes a ‘traditional’ pay TV service looks increasingly muddy.