North American OTT revenue to double by 2026 to $94bn

Revenues from the North American OTT market will reach $94bn within the next five years, according to research revealed today.

The figure will be almost double the amount generated by OTT services like Netflix and Disney+ across the US and Canada. The region ended 2020 with OTT revenues of $49bn.

The US, which is the world’s most mature OTT market and home to the world’s leading SVOD services, will see revenues more than double despite its maturity. The increasing prevalence of new players like HBO Max and Paramount+– along with an increasing focus on free-to-view ad-supported players – will drive revenues from $42bn in 2020 to $88bn in 2026.

Canada will see a similar proportion of growth, though the decade, doubling to $5.4bn.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “SVOD and AVOD revenues will each increase by $22bn between 2020 and 2026. AVOD revenues will triple to $33bn. SVOD will remain the main revenue source, supplying $54bn by 2026.”

The research also notes limited growth for download to own (DTO) and rentals. Movie and series purchases will grow by less than $1bn across the five year period, increasing from $3.1bn to $3.9bn. Rentals will grow by an even smaller amount from $2.5bn to $2.8bn.