MAZ Blog

YouTube has held the most popular video monetization platform title for a long time. 

Over-the-top video streaming, or OTT, is on the rise in a big way. In fact, the streaming services industry is set to reach almost $125 billion in revenue by 2025. Besides Netflix and its competitors, traditional broadcasters and huge content creation companies like Disney - plus a host of unexpected businesses - are jumping into the fray.

Streaming is quickly overtaking traditional cable as the number one choice for consumers. In fact, by 2024, more than 46 million households are expected to “cut the cord” – dropping cable in favor of streaming and over-the-top (OTT) platforms.  In addition, viewing on mobile devices such as smartphones accounts for a big part of that market; 30% of premium content was viewed on phones in 2020 – up from 23% in 2019.

Are you a broadcaster who is looking for ways to reach the new generation of cord-cutters? Or are you a pay-TV operator who wants to gain a competitive advantage and maximize revenue? Perhaps, you’re a content creator who wants to take their video streaming skills to the next level by monetizing their content?

The digital age has made it imperative for entrepreneurs and marketers to brainstorm new ways to reach their customers. While social media marketing and content marketing continue to rule the roost, OTT or over-the-top apps are becoming increasingly effective as customer acquisition tools. In fact, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and other such apps are fast replacing traditional TV channels.

The streaming TV ecosystem is growing rapidly, and the pandemic has only accelerated consumer adoption to OTT. There have already been over 1.4 million subscribers leaving cable in 2020 and counting. As experts in the OTT space, our team at MAZ only sees this growth going up in 2021 and beyond.

If you’re a YouTuber or aspiring content creator, relying on a single platform like YouTube can be risky for your business model and monetization. Your livelihood and income depend on your content’s visibility, which is controlled by the platform. 

Hulu’s prominent role in today’s so-called streaming wars places it within the group of big players, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Go. Boasting 25 million subscribers as of 2019, Hulu currently relies on a hybrid model implementing both ad-accompanying low-cost, as well as premium subscription plans. This makes Hulu a great example of a combination ad-supported (AVOD) and Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) platform in the larger OTT space.