• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, May 9, 2016

The market for streaming apps couldn’t be better. Worldwide, top apps saw data consumption per active Android phone user grow by about 25% year-over-year, while downloads increased by around 15%, and revenue from in-app purchases more than doubled.

And, Spotify continues to dominate other music-streaming services, according to recent findings from App Annie. Indeed, the Swedish tech startup leads the way worldwide in terms of active users, downloads and revenue, the analytics firm finds.

Yet, as we see with Facebook and other industry leaders, Spotify isn’t about to rest on its laurels.

Rather, the company is breaking into original content creation with some of the biggest names in entertainment. Already, it has deals in place to produce 12 original series with actor Tim Robbins and music mogul Russell Simmons.

Not expected to exceed 15 minutes in length, program episodes will be geared to grab the attention of young, mobile-first users.

At least initially, the fare should be available to free and paid Spotify users in the U.K., Germany, Sweden, and the States.

Spotify has had its eyes on video for some time. About a year ago, the company unveiled plans to add video from the likes of like ESPN, MTV, and Comedy Central, and then began rolling out the goods in January.

With original video, however, Spotify is following the lead of new-media mavericks like Netflix and Hulu.

With good reason. Along with music, entertainment apps are experiencing “explosive” revenue growth thanks to the success of subscription revenue models catering to consumer demand for streaming services.

Within the entertainment category, video-streaming apps comprise the bulk of this mammoth growth in global revenue. In particular, Netflix reached the top spot worldwide for video-streaming apps on iOS after introducing in-app subscriptions, late last year,  according to App Annie.

On the music side, meanwhile, Spotify is facing more competition than ever. In particular, Pandora appears to be gearing up for a battle with Spotify following its acquisition of digital music service Rdio.