Streaming video services are beginning to show a bigger impact on mass media, with millions of consumers flocking to Netflix, Hulu Plus and other channels to deliver their entertainment needs. For good measure, Twitch is also growing strongly, with its various game tournaments, devoted broadcaster channels and other services that are helping it see an increase in numbers as well.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise that a new study from Juniper Research, as reported by TechCrunch, indicates that subscriber numbers for these services, including Netflix and Amazon Prime, could rise from 92.1 million for this past year to 333.2 million global subscriptions by 2019 – an impressive growth for a five year span.
Devices like Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, Roku and Chromecast make it easy for users to connect to streaming services, as do game consoles and set-top boxes that provide access to streaming video with just the push of a button. Users can gain access to on-demand content, live streams and other special events with ease, instead of having to go through a pre-set channel lineup through a cable box.
While smart TV’s are also delivering streaming video, the firm believes that they don’t contribute as much as expected. These are based upon “poor operating systems and user interfaces,” according to the report.
Meanwhile, set-top boxes and other devices like the ones described above enable viewing on all television sets – even older models – with a great deal of convenience. This makes even older, obsolete televisions (rendered as “dumb” in the report) into modern-day connected devices.
As a result, some cable companies, in the hopes of preventing consumers from “cutting the cord” as it were, are offering packages, such as Verizon’s new a la carte programming package where consumers can pick and choose their bundles – although that’s leaving a few particular cable channels steamed over the matter.
Regarding the growth of on-demand entertainment, Juniper states that the United States will easily lead the way, followed closely behind by the Far East, which has its own set of programming that’s garnering a bigger audience. Netflix recently noted interest in expanding its service to China, through partners like Was Media Holding. (However, at this time, a deal hasn’t been confirmed yet.)
Even though some services don’t use ads, like Netflix and Amazon Prime, there are those, like Hulu and Twitch, that do, and according to the report, ad spend on video-on-demand will increase by almost four times by 2019, with the Far East and China showing the most gain according to the forecast.
