NEW YORK—While the emergence of over-the-top services is clearly on the rise with an expected 181 million people in the United States in 2015 watching OTT videos, it is one of the original services that remains the most popular. YouTube remains the most popular OTT video service among viewers, though other services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon are also on the rise, according to a recent study from eMarketer.
The eMarketer study forecasts the growth of OTT videos in the U.S., which nearly nine in 10 digital video viewers already access. One of the primary reasons of that is YouTube. YouTube will see an audience of 170.7 million monthly viewers in 2015, or 94.3 percent of OTT users.
However, the other services are seeing a fast growth. Netflix is expected to grow 20 percent this year, to a total of 114.3 million viewers, or 63.2 percent of OTT users. The streaming service is expected to hit 71.7 percent of the market by 2019.
Hulu and Amazon both currently see less in total number of viewers, but eMarketer predicts the services to match, or even surpass, Netflix’s rate of growth. Hulu is projected to reach 82.2 million viewers by 2019, while Amazon will reach 88.6 million.
OTT can be accessed through a PC or other Internet-connected devices, but is most prevalent on smart TVs or other Internet-connected TV setups. More than a 140 million people are expected to use connected TVs in 2015, according to eMarketer.
To see the full report, click here.
