Connected TV will drive OTT subs surge

An increase in connected TV sales will spur a surge in the number of consumers paying for OTT services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video, according to new research.

Juniper Research forecasts that the number of global SVOD subs will rocket from 92.1 million in 2014 to 332.2 million by 2019.

By region, North America will continue to have the most paying customers for streaming services, but Asia will close the gap in terms of subscriber numbers, UK-based Juniper said.

It noted that cost-effective devices such as Google’s Chromecast dongle and Amazon’s Fire TV stick will help drive the number of consumers accessing connected services via the TV set.

There will also be an uptick in the number of people buying connected TVs, with preloaded apps for paid-for streaming platforms, and in the number of consumers accessing SVOD services via games consoles and set top boxes.

In earlier forecasts, Juniper said revenues from SVOD services will rise from US$8 billion in 2014 to US$31.6 billion by 2019. Another subscription and revenue driver will be the provision of 4K services, the research house added.