Over-the-top “OTT” is a key term in entertainment right now, because it sits at the center of the inevitable and unstoppable merger between the worlds of television and digital video.

Opportunities and challenges for the global providers of the OTT video services:

• The majority of respondents whose companies don’t offer OTT services were likely to think that OTT viewership hours will exceed typical broadcast TV viewing levels within the next 4 years.
• 72% of respondents say that OTT as a viable revenue opportunity today.
• 86% of respondents offering OTT services today confirm the viability of OTT as a revenue opportunity today.
• About the importance of the 3 types of OTT service offerings – a live event, live linear, & video-on-demand “VOD”: 64% of respondents rated  VOD as very important to OTT-business plans, live event importance rated with (47%) and live linear rated also with (42%).
• Competition from free services is the biggest commercial challenge face businesses to offer live-linear OTT services.
• The quality of service & experience is the biggest technical hurdle in offering live-linear OTT services.
• OTT monetization strategy approaches focused on subscriptions with a rate of 42%, higher than advertising (35%).

                                         A Graph Shows The Mix of Streaming OTT Video Content Types.

Methodology:

The report analyzes responses from 809 Streaming Media Magazine and streamingmedia.com readers on OTT trends and opportunities.