North American OTT market to double in revenue by 2026

The North American OTT market will reach US$94 billion within the next five years.

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 US$49 billion.

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 US$42 billion in 2020 to US$88 billion in 2026. 

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

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

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