Short answers, pulled from the story.
An over-the-top media service, or OTT, delivers video and audio directly to viewers over the public Internet, bypassing broadcast, cable, satellite, and IPTV systems. The Internet service provider carries the data packets but holds no responsibility for the content. Viewers access OTT through smart TVs, streaming devices like Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV, game consoles, computers, and mobile apps.
OTT streaming began in March 1998 when Hong Kong Telecom launched iTV, the world's first video-on-demand streaming platform. The service also offered music-on-demand and racing-on-demand. It shut down in 2002 after four years of operation.
By May 2025, streaming represented 44.8 percent of all US television viewership, surpassing network and cable television combined. That figure reflects a 71 percent increase in US streaming use since 2021. OTT became the most popular form of television in the United States in 2024.
SVOD (subscription video on demand) services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video charge a monthly fee for access to film and television libraries. FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) services such as Pluto TV and Tubi deliver content at no charge to viewers, funded by advertising instead.
The record for simultaneous OTT viewers was set in 2025 at 61.2 million concurrent viewers on JioHotstar in India. This surpassed the previous record of 59 million set by Disney+ Hotstar in 2023, which itself had broken the 2019 record of 18.6 million set by Hotstar.
OTT messaging services deliver instant messages over the Internet rather than through a mobile carrier's SMS network, treating all communications as data. WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms, is a leading example, with others including Viber, WeChat, iMessage, Skype, and Telegram.