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Advanced TV & Digital
OTT (Over-the-Top)
Video or audio content delivered directly over the public internet, entirely bypassing traditional cable, satellite, or terrestrial RF distribution systems.
What is OTT (Over-the-Top)?
OTT describes the delivery method: content travelling over the open internet without a traditional pay-TV intermediary. OTT is the umbrella term; CTV, AVOD, SVOD, FAST, and BVOD are all specific OTT business-model variants. A Netflix subscription streamed to a smart TV is OTT; a Hulu AVOD feed on a Fire Stick is OTT; a news clip watched on a phone through a broadcaster's app is OTT.
The strategic importance of OTT to broadcasters is existential. Every viewer who 'cuts the cord' and replaces cable with an OTT stack removes a customer from the legacy distribution economy and forces broadcasters to either launch their own OTT services (BVOD) or license content to other OTT platforms. The broadcasters who moved fastest on OTT transition through the 2020s retained far more of their audience than those who waited.
Why it matters
Represents both the core existential threat and the necessary evolutionary path for traditional, legacy broadcasting corporations.
Unify OTT and broadcast intelligence
Spotwise ingests OTT ad occurrence data alongside traditional broadcast so your competitive view spans every distribution format at once.