Digital Video Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2025 - 2030)

Global Digital Video Market Trends and Insights

Subscription Saturation Plateau Pushing Hybrid Models

Mature subscription markets now average four paid services per household, prompting platforms to add lower-priced, ad-supported tiers that widen reach without eroding premium pricing. Advertising is forecast to represent 28% of global streaming revenue by 2028, up from 20% in 2023. Netflix demonstrated the viability of this pivot as its ad tier helped lift Q1 2025 revenue by 13% versus the prior year. The strategic shift demands new competencies in dynamic ad insertion, measurement, and brand-safety controls, areas where technology partners and in-house ad platforms are becoming critical. Competitive positioning now rests on the ability to balance premium originals with scalable ad inventory that meets marketer performance benchmarks.

Telco-Bundled SVOD Packages Accelerating Penetration

Operator-led bundles are projected to distribute 365 million SVOD subscriptions by 2029, equivalent to 20% of global subs. In the MENA region, telco partnerships are on track to push the streaming video market to USD 1.5 billion by end-2025. Bundles lower customer acquisition costs, shrink churn, and extend reach into prepaid and rural segments that lack credit cards. For operators, video adds incremental ARPU and strengthens loyalty amid intensifying mobile competition. Streaming services in Latin America and Eastern Europe are adopting similar strategies, signalling a global expansion of carrier billing and data-inclusive plans as a preferred path to scale.

FAST Channels Monetising Long-Tail Content

Free ad-supported streaming television leverages vast back-catalog libraries, generating incremental revenue while offering cost-free entertainment that eases consumer fatigue with paid subscriptions. FAST viewership is expected to climb 15% annually to 2027, with Tubi, Pluto TV, and the Roku Channel leading in session growth. Content owners employ channelised playlists to surface niche genres and franchise spinoffs, creating fresh ad inventory with limited incremental content spend. The model aligns with advertiser demand for brand-safe, contextual placements at scale. Media conglomerates increasingly treat FAST as a complementary bottom-funnel layer that lengthens a title’s monetisation arc and feeds audience discovery for premium tier

Mobile-First Video Consumption Surge

Mobile accounted for 62% of global streaming hours in 2024, and 5G connections surpassed 2 billion by year-end, underpinning accelerated demand for high-definition on-the-go viewi. In Southeast Asia, TikTok leads engagement despite a recent decline in ad reach, illustrating the pivot toward snackable, vertical formats. Producers increasingly shoot simultaneous horizontal and vertical masters while platforms optimise bitrates to cope with inconsistent network conditions. Mobile carriers leverage zero-rating and video-specific data packs to upsell 5G subscriptions. Growth potential remains strongest in India and sub-Saharan Africa, where mobile represents the primary broadband access point.

Rising Content Acquisition Costs Squeezing Margins

Production inflation continues to outpace revenue growth, with Netflix allocating the majority of its USD 17 billion 2024 budget to originals and premium licenses. Warner Bros. Discovery posted a 25% content revenue decline in Q1 2025 as box-office weakness rippled into streaming performance. Platforms now apply stricter return-on-investment metrics, shorten episode orders, and pursue cheaper reality formats. Intensified bidding for live sports further elevates rights fees, pressuring margins unless offset by advertising or pricing gains. Smaller services feel the squeeze most acutely, often resorting to licensing out exclusives or merging to secure scale.

Fragmented Regulatory Landscape for Cross-Border Streaming

Streaming services face divergent data-localisation, content-quota, and tax rules, raising compliance overhead and delaying market entries. The U.S. Trade Representative lists China’s cloud restrictions and Russia’s local-processing mandates among the toughest barriers to digital trade. The EU Copyright Directive requires proactive infringer controls, complicating user-generated uploads. Services invest heavily in legal, metadata, and localisation workflows to meet overlapping standards. Regulatory uncertainty influences footprint strategies, often favouring joint-venture models with local entities that already hold broadcast licences.

Segment Analysis

By Business Model: Hybrid Strategies Reshape Revenue Streams

SVOD commanded 58% of the digital video market size in 2024, yet the AVOD and FAST cohort is projected to accelerate at an 18.4% CAGR during 2025-2030, raising its share of total revenue materially. Advertising revenue is forecast to account for 28% of streaming income by 2028, reflecting intensifying platform efforts to balance premium pricing with broader audience reach. Major incumbents such as Netflix and Disney have launched ad-lite tiers that offer price flexibility while generating high-margin inventory suitable for performance-oriented marketers. The competitive field now rewards ownership of first-party data, dynamic ad-insertion engines, and programmatic marketplaces that meet brand-safety standards.

Transactional models including TVOD and pay-per-view secure premium pricing for live sports, early-release films, and specialty events. Warner Bros. Discovery’s Q1 2025 streaming revenue rose 9% to USD 2.656 billion, buoyed by a 35% surge in advertising tied to ad-lite subscribers. Bundled offerings that combine live channels with SVOD libraries appeal to households looking for a single interface. Virtual MVPD consolidation—the merger of Hulu + Live TV and Fubo under Disney majority control—illustrates scale’s importance for negotiating carriage fees and sustaining content spending. Increased diversification across revenue streams is thus a strategic hedge against macro-economic shifts and fluctuating subscriber sentiment.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Type: Short-Form Content Disrupts Traditional Viewing

Long-form VOD retained 60% share of the digital video market in 2024, underscoring the enduring appeal of serialised dramas, feature films, and documentaries. However, user-generated and short-form video is on course to climb at a 16.2% CAGR, propelled by creator-economy monetisation frameworks and the viral power of social feeds. The creator economy is projected to top USD 600 billion in value by 2030 as direct fan funding, merchandise, and brand sponsorship scale alongside video advertising.

Platforms now integrate tip jars, shoppable overlays, and episodic packaging that elevate short-form franchises into multi-format IP. YouTube’s updated creator tools segment clips into seasons and add multitrack dubbing, thereby attracting connected-TV audiences who prefer lean-back experiences. Meanwhile, traditional studios experiment with mobile-first spin-offs to test story arcs before greenlighting full series. The blend of aspirational and participatory viewing broadens engagement touchpoints and deepens time spent on platform, encouraging marketing teams to allocate budgets across both premium and grassroots content.

By Device: Smart TVs Challenge Mobile Dominance

Mobile devices delivered 62% of streaming hours in 2024, yet smart TVs and connected TV hardware form the fastest-growing category, projected at a 15.9% CAGR for 2025-2030. Rising panel quality, voice navigation, and sophisticated home screens are shifting long-form consumption back to the living room environment. The Roku Channel climbed to the #2 app in the United States by engagement in Q1 2025 while platform revenue reached USD 881 million, underscoring CTV’s advertising potential.

For advertisers, connected TV offers addressable ad units within a premium environment, with U.S. spend forecast to hit USD 26.6 billion in 2025. Gaming consoles and PCs retain niche importance for esports streaming and interactive formats that blend gameplay with viewing. Device makers differentiate with AI-powered picture and sound optimisation and integrated FAST hubs that surface curated linear channels. The multi-device reality obliges content owners to ensure seamless authentication, synchronised progress tracking, and codec adaptation so that quality remains consistent as viewers move between screens.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

Geography Analysis

North America held 35% of digital video market share in 2024, supported by high broadband penetration, advanced advertising infrastructure, and aggressive original-content investment. Consolidation is intensifying, as evidenced by Disney’s 70% stake in the combined Hulu-Fubo entity, which now serves 6.2 million North American subscribers. Connected-TV ad spend will rise 13% to USD 26.6 billion in 2025, confirming advertiser confidence in measurable, premium large-screen inventory. Yet market saturation limits new subscriptions, shifting management focus toward churn reduction and ARPU optimisation via live sports, gaming integrations, and enhanced personalisation.

Asia-Pacific represents the fastest-growing region with a 15.1% projected CAGR, driven by widespread mobile adoption, rapid fibre rollout, and youthful demographics that favour digital-first entertainment. Domestic giants dominate China, where iQIYI’s Q1 2025 earnings signal renewed revenue momentum amid economic recovery. India’s market is buoyed by Amazon’s commissioning of 37 local originals in early 2024, underscoring the scale of localisation investment . Telco bundling proves essential in ASEAN and South Asia, where prepaid user bases rely on carrier billing. Short-form and social video remain dominant in Indonesia and the Philippines, compelling subscription platforms to introduce lower-price mobile-only tiers.

Europe’s digital video landscape shows heterogeneous growth, shaped by regulatory complexity and linguistic diversity. Ad-supported tiers gain ground as household budgets tighten; the continent’s AVOD pivot is projected to reshape revenue mixes through 2025. The French video content market may reach €9.6 billion (USD 10.4 billion) by 2029, propelled by SVOD spending despite strict local-content obligations. Central and Eastern Europe relies heavily on pay-TV and telco packages, which supply 25% of paid streaming subscriptions. AI-enabled localisation trims churn by tailoring metadata, subtitles, and artwork across diverse language clusters, providing a competitive edge to services that master data pipelines and regional compliance.