Happy National Streaming Day!

Remember the days when a 20-minute television show took 30 minutes to watch on live TV? And when commercials used to be more than a six-second ad on YouTube? Then, Tivo came along and changed the game, giving people the power to pause, rewind, and fast forward—letting us skip past everyone’s favorite TV interruption.

Since those days, things have continued to change. We used to “tape” our favorite shows, then we “recorded” them; now, we stream them. And over the last decade, innovative companies have risen up to take that concept to the next level—giving birth to Over-the-Top streaming (OTT) platforms. OTT has revolutionized the media industry and has become so much a part of our everyday lives that we now have a national day to celebrate the magical realm of streaming: HAPPY STREAMING DAY!

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The History of National Streaming Day

National Streaming Day takes place every year on May 20th. The first National Streaming Day was celebrated on May 20th, 2014, by Roku to commemorate the 6th anniversary of their first streaming device, The Netflix Player.

On National Streaming Day, people are encouraged to watch 60 minutes of their favorite streaming program and share it with others on social media. As the day has become more popular, streaming services now use it as a time to offer discounts on devices or services, promote or tease their upcoming programming, or offer exclusive access to previously gated content.

In celebration of National Streaming Day, let’s take a look back at the trends and insights from the last year of streaming.

What Did This Last Year Look Like for Streaming?

Although streaming in 2020 and 2021 hit new highs, there were no signs of slowing down in 2022. While old favorites like Netflix are still leaving their mark on the streaming industry, many other platforms are trying to get their hand in the proverbial cookie jar because they know people are willing to spend on streaming.

  • On average, one in four American households spends $75 per month on streaming services.
  • Netflix dominated the list of the top 15 most viewed original streaming service series in 2022, with 13 of the 15 top shows being on their platform. “Stranger Things,” “Ozark,” and “Wednesday” came in gold, silver, and bronze respectively.

The Ever-Increasing Amount of Players in the Game Has Platforms Spending Big Bucks.

If you’re wondering what streaming services are doing in response to increased demand, look no further than how much they’re spending on original content:

33

The Walt Disney Company reportedly spent $33 billion on original content in 2022. This includes their content on Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+

16.6

Amazon spent $16.6 Billion on Amazon Originals, live sports programming, and licensed third-party video content included with Prime: a 28% increase from 2021.

3

Peacock is expected to increase its spending on original content by 68% to $3.13 billion.

16

Meanwhile, Netflix’s spending declined by 5% in 2022, spending $16.84 billion on content compared to $17.7 billion in 2021. Netflix’s leadership attributed this decline to the growth of their original programming production over the last 10 years, meaning the most cash-intensive part of the process is over

Again, original content from streaming services was incredibly popular in 2022. Americans streamed over 19.4 million years worth of content, compared to 15 million in 2021. Stranger Things was the most watched streaming original show with 52 billion minutes watched overall.

Amidst all the growth large streaming services are experiencing, there are also more eyes to compete for than ever before. According to the most recent data, 85% of households in the United States are subscribed to at least one streaming service.

With the number of cable subscriptions in America hovering around 76 million, compared to 113 million accessing streaming services, it seems OTT platforms are aggressively carving away at that gap, bringing the once far-off idea of ‘death to cable TV’ to reality. Don’t believe us? Check out these stats that show streaming FOMO is taking over!

5

4.9 million people in the U.S. “cut the cord” and canceled their cable TV packages in 2022.

34

For the first time ever, streaming consumption overtook cable consumption in 2022. While streaming held a 34.8% share of total TV consumption, cable only had a 34.4% share.

250

According to Statista, US online user digital video penetration will reach a total of roughly 250 million total viewers in 2022.

To say that OTT streaming hasn’t influenced our lives is a gross misconception considering the term “binge-watching” didn’t exist before the streaming era! Some other terms you can thank video streaming for:

Over-the-top Media

OTT

Stands for over-the-top, initially named for devices that go “over” a cable box to give the user access to TV content.

Video Distribution Automation

VDA

A term used to describe the combination of OTT optimization, creator self-distribution, and MCN into one powerful solution

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There is a lot to celebrate this National Streaming Day, and we hope you celebrate accordingly with a binge-watching session of these Endavo Staff Picks on our new Watch by Endavo channel!

While you’re at it, here’s a collection of our favorite binge-watching snacks! Happy National Streaming Day!

Check Out the Collection

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