In the US, Hulu is the fastest-growing subscription streamer on connected TV devices, with the number of households that watch it via those devices rising by 53% between January 2020 and June 2021.

Dating apps is the second-largest category of mobile subscriptions (after OTT video) and grew 35% YoY in Q1 2022, according to Lexi Sydow, head of insights at data.ai (formerly App Annie). Mobile app subscription makes subscription management easier. Sydow explained that app stores serve as a centralized, easy way for users to manage their subscriptions.

While traditional TV ad spending will struggle for growth in the coming years, digital video will not. A portion of digital video spend will go to the nascent CTV space, but traditional broadcasters are also developing their own streaming services (with BVOD ad spend rising at a far faster rate than traditional TV spend). Overall, the advertising opportunity for CTV remains small.

Its average revenue per user (ARPU) is $12.96, well above many of its entirely or partly ad-supported brethren, and just slightly behind subscription-supported Netflix ($14.78). YouTube recently added thousands of ad-supported TV shows for free.

On today's episode, we discuss which ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) services Americans are using, why they're using them, and if these types of viewers are different from those using subscription video-on-demand (SVOD). We then talk about what livestream TV could do to help users sign up at a faster clip, how SVOD players can reduce churn, and what to make of Disney+ considering an ad-supported tier. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna.

We noted earlier that subscription OTT video viewer growth was accounting for an ever-greater proportion of the overall OTT viewer total. Access to SVOD services among 65- to 75-year-olds has been on a steady rise, per September 2021 Ipsos MORI research for Deloitte. A significant jump in 2020 was followed by an even-more-impressive rise in 2021, when the study found 57% had access to such services.

Rogers Media provides niche OTT offerings—e.g., the Citytv app and Sportsnet Now—but has not publicly stated how many users there are for each app. Our first forecast for Crave, which launched in 2014, estimates that the service will have 6.8 million viewers in 2021.

The Nordic region has taken to subscription streaming services at some of the fastest rates in Western Europe, and indeed the world. Thanks to the local appetite for foreign content, and these services’ appetite for subscribers, the audience there will keep expanding for the foreseeable future.

Several major streamers, including subscription-based video-on-demand (SVOD) services, have expressed interest in adding an ad-supported tier. Warner Bros. Discovery has said it will offer one. Disney+ will launch an ad-supported model later this year.

On a percentage basis, the number of monthly US live video viewers, video game viewers, and subscription over-the-top (OTT) users will experience the largest pandemic-related bump in 2020, based on an analysis of our current forecast compared with our pre-pandemic forecast. Esports and podcasts are also gaining users quickly this year, but the pandemic isn’t the main reason for their growth.

Ad-free services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video remain streaming juggernauts, but streaming video viewing is also increasing for services featuring advertising. Ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) viewers represent close to half of all US internet users. In September, we published our first-ever estimates for AVOD viewers.

OTT and Subscription OTT Users. Theme: Growth. OTT and subscription OTT user numbers will track consistently above our pre-pandemic forecasts, but their growth trends won’t be identical.