Omdia’s latest TV & Video market data shows global online video subscriptions reached 2.24 billion at the end of 2025, up 17.6 per cent year on year from 1.9 billion in 2024. However, growth is expected to slow to single digits in 2026 as the market enters a more mature phase.

Meanwhile, global pay-TV subscriptions continued their gradual decline, falling 1.8 per cent year on year to 1.03 billion. The balance of the global TV and video market continues to shift toward streaming, with online video accounting for 68.4 per cemt of the combined 3.3 billion subscriptions worldwide.

In terms of revenue, online video overtook pay-TV for the first time in 2025, Online video revenue increased 13.5 per cent to $176 billion while pay-TV revenue declined 4 per cent to $170 billion. Both figures include subscription and transactional revenue but exclude advertising.

Omdia’s global data reflects a wide range of different trends taking place at the local level across the markets it tracks. A key common theme, however, is that new, lower cost, ad-supported tiers have been attracting new subscribers into the online video segment.

Adam Thomas, Practice Leader, Media, Entertainment & Advertising team, commented: “The 17.6 per cent increase in subscriptions in 2025 was the largest annual rise since 2021. That growth was driven, in particular, by subsidised ad-tier subscriptions offered by telcos and pay-TV operators. The popularity of these lower-cost offers is a key factor behind the fact that subscription numbers grew by 17.6 per cent, while revenue increased by a more moderate 13.5 per cent.”

Another clear trend across the sector is that online video platforms are changing their focus from growing subscriber numbers to maximizing revenue from their existing client base, often through price increases for their premium, non-ad-supported tiers. This trend is expected to remain prominent in the years ahead. While the 2025 figures show that discounted ad-tier pricing can attract significant numbers of cost-conscious subscribers into the online video ecosystem, this will be a short-term phenomenon. With several core online video markets approaching saturation Omdia believes the focus on price rises to maximise profits will result in slower subscription, forecasting 5.6 per cent growth for full-year 2026.

Tony Gunnarsson, Senior Principal Analyst, TV & Online Video commented: “It’s clear that the availability of attractively priced ad-tier options created a temporary uplift in SVoD subscriber numbers in 2025. However, this has not changed our longer-term forecast, which remains for low single-digit annual growth rates for the foreseeable future.”

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Tags: Omdia, streaming