#223 – Future of Streaming: The Convergence of OTA and OTT

The video streaming industry has been dominated by a business model called Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD), popularized by Netflix. In recent years, however, there has been a shift toward Advertising Video on Demand (AVOD) and Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST). Major media companies such as Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS) and Fox acquired FAST services such as Pluto TV and Tubi, while NBCUniversal (Peacock), Warner Bros. Discovery (HBO Max/Discovery+), and Disney (Disney+ and Hulu) are introducing low-cost, ad-supported plans for their SVOD services. In addition, connected TV players Roku and Amazon have also entered this market, vying for supremacy with other major media companies. 

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This growing array of options is leading to subscriber fatigue and consumers are seeking alternatives that offer what they want but at a lower price. As ad-supported streaming services become more prevalent, technologies that enable more relevant ads are also attracting attention, such as Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) and Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), which enable more context-sensitive ads and optimize the timing and number of ads. As AVOD and FAST reach a wider range of price-sensitive consumers, Webrain sees an increased role for Over the Air (OTA), by combining its airwaves broadcasting with OTT (Over the Top) network capabilities. New standards such as ATSC 3.0 and DVB-I are accelerating the seamless integration of broadcasting and the internet. In this report, Webrain examines the current state of the market for ad-supported streaming services and explores the new world of the media industry where OTT and OTA intersect.