With the Coronavirus pandemic resulting in audiences spending more time at home over the past few years, advertisers have had to switch up their methods in order to drive profits. Things may be heading back to ‘normal’, but the advertising and streaming trends have certainly shifted. This article is going to highlight 6 streaming trends that are shifting the OTT marketing industry. 

Whilst things remain uncertain in terms of the recovery period for Covid-19, it’s predicted that by 2024, the OTT market is anticipated to exceed $210 billion in subscription fees and advertising revenue by 2026.   In line with that, addressable media is quickly becoming the new norm and is also expected to grow more within the next few years. 

OTT providers are expected to increase their efforts to diversify their services to include more ways for audiences to engage with their service in real time. Just like the interactive Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Netflix episode that was released in 2018 and allowed users to choose how the story developed and ended, more over the top service providers will explore how they can increase user engagement.

As 5G internet becomes more standard, it’s certain that video streaming and therefore OTT content publishers will benefit. Research shows that 29% of consumers would pay a premium if 5G was guaranteed to give them better quality video on their mobile devices and decreased the amount of buffering. This advanced technology is set to change the whole industry as we know it.

As 5G becomes the new norm, 4K streaming solutions will be made more possible. In general, 4K and VR streaming is expected to experience huge growth over the next few years as a result of the extra video bandwidth made available. Alongside this, virtual reality equipment is steadily becoming less expensive and more attainable for consumers to get hold of, making these trends more likely to grow as it becomes more accessible. User 

In general, users prefer using streaming services that are easy to navigate, like Netflix. Perhaps one of the reasons why Netflix has billions of subscribers and certainly is among the most popular streaming services is because it’s simple and effective. As service providers do their research and take cues from services like Netflix to help them see what users really value, we can expect to see a rise in services that make user experience their number one priority. 

There are so many different OTT hosting solutions to choose from already and because they’re so affordable and successful, it’s likely that there’s going to be a further increase in available platforms. With some platforms offering live streaming and advanced security features just to name a few, it’s not hard to see how the competition would continue to increase within the OTT advertising industry. The rise of new technologies is certainly made clear when it comes to some of the trends within OTT advertising. Be sure to follow along throughout 2022 and see which trends take over!