💲 VoD Revenue Surpasses Pay-TV Earnings for the First Time

The streaming market grew by 13.5% to reach $176 billion, while the pay-TV segment contracted by 4% to $170 billion (both figures include subscriptions and transactions but exclude advertising).

The total number of online video subscriptions worldwide reached 2.24 billion by the end of the year, representing a 17.6% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, the pay-TV subscriber base dipped to 1.03 billion users. Consequently, streaming now accounts for 68.4% of the world’s total 3.3 billion subscriptions.

Experts identify the main driver of this massive surge as the widespread rollout of cheaper, ad-supported tiers, which were aggressively promoted, particularly through bundled offers from telecom operators.

Tony Gunnarsson, Principal Analyst at Omdia, noted that the spike in sign-ups driven by low-cost ad tiers is a temporary phenomenon. This year, the industry is entering a phase of maturity, and media giants are shifting their strategies: the focus is moving away from chasing net subscriber additions toward maximizing profitability from the existing base, including through price hikes on premium, ad-free tiers.

With key markets approaching saturation, Omdia projects that global streaming subscription growth will slow down to single-digit percentages, estimated at around 5.6% for the full year.