• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, June 16, 2015

Global over-the-top revenue is on a fast track for massive growth in the next five years.

TV and video revenue from OTT services around the world will hit $51.1 billion in 2020, double its expected $26 billion haul this year. That’s also a huge rise from the $4.2 billion global that OTT services earned in 2010, according to research firm Digital TV Research.

The appetite in the United States for video consumption across multiple platforms and screens is driving a large portion of this growth. The research firm said that OTT TV and video revenue in the United States will account for $19.1 billion of the total in 2020. China is a major player too, and is on track to grow from $40 million in 2010 to $2.8 billion in 2020, ranking it fourth then.

Subscription packages will contribute the largest share of the pie, ahead of ads. Revenue from this SVOD segment will hit $21.6 billion in 2020, up from $7.6 billion last year, and $1 billion in 2010. SVOD is rising in part because of Netflix’s global expansion, Digital TV Research said. Netflix is on pace to count more than 26 million international subscribers by year end, with nearly 44 million in the United States and about 70 million worldwide.

These numbers dovetail with recent figures from Leichtman Research Group, which found that 56% of American homes have a TV that connects to the Internet, more than double the 24% of homes that connected their TVs to the Web five years ago. That growth is further evidence of the quick spread and consumer interest in OTT viewing via devices like a Roku, Chromecast or Apple TV.

In related news, Parks Associates released its new report finding that 1.6 billion people worldwide watch online video on connected devices. That’s more than 20% of the world’s population.

Seems this OTT thing is for real.