Expect More OTT Providers, Higher Quality Content, Survey Says

More than just an ancillary revenue stream, over-the-top video is maturing into a major revenue opportunity and key brand-building tool, said a survey of TV stations, pay-TV operators, programmers, TV service providers, new media and other firms released Friday. Akamai underwrote the survey, which said 45.6 percent have launched an OTT service, 10.3 percent plan to launch in the next quarter and 35.4 percent plan to launch in the next year. Sixty percent have begun or plan to begin a subscription-based service, it said, though subscriptions aren't as popular as advertising as a revenue-generation model. While 59 percent of the average OTT library is HD video, that's expected to grow to 71 percent within a year. End-user features like search recommendations are on the rise, it said. On-demand delivery is the main mechanism for delivering video from 79 percent of the surveyed OTT providers, with 65 percent offering live linear content such as sports and events, according to the survey; 44 percent plan to support downloading for offline viewing.