The value of the global streaming TV business will double in the next four years, according to new research.
The rapid expansion of "streamcasters" Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon in the US, coupled with Netflix's expansion around the world, will drive the global value of the business from $US5.8 billion ($6.7 billion) in 2014 to more than $US10 billion by 2018.
The research also offers an interesting glimpse into the future of Australia's broadcast landscape, as competition in the streaming sector heats up with confirmation Nine and Fairfax Media's joint venture Stan and US-headquartered streamcaster Netflix are both launching in early 2015.
"Subscription-based over-the-top (OTT) providers like Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon have seen phenomenal growth over the last couple of years," broadband and pay TV analyst Jeff Heynen said.
Mr Heynen said the research showed the key streaming players would "continue to challenge traditional pay-TV providers".
The report, from the US company Infonetics, also noted that the key streaming players are "in the early stages of siphoning off revenue".
The US market is significantly more evolved than the Australian market, with dozens of streaming services available on a variety of platforms, including Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire; they include Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon, Crackle, MGo, Blockbuster On Demand, Vudu and Flixster.
Many US channels now have standalone free streaming services, such as PBS, History, A&E, Lifetime and Showtime, while others, such as HBO and CBS, have confirmed they will launch subscriber streaming services.
The threat streaming services pose to the status quo of Australia's broadcast landscape will no doubt be exacerbated by a decade of technological inertia from the traditional commercial players.
The ABC pushed into the digital space early and now has a market-leading service, iView, while Foxtel invested in digital, on-demand and streaming services such as Presto.
Other key early players include EzyFlix and QuickFlix. They offer a mixture of transactional video-on-demand and download-to-own services.
Nine and Fairfax Media this year formed a joint venture, StreamCo, which will launch a streaming service, Stan, in the new year; Stan has output deals with Sony and MGM and will air the Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul and the critically acclaimed drama Transparent.
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Seven and Ten are yet to formally launch streaming services, though it is understood both are keen to move into the space.
Their collective inertia, however, has also allowed Netflix's US service to take a toehold in the market, with an estimated "grey market" subscription base of between 150,000 and 200,000 local subscribers.
How Netflix handles migrating those customers to its Australian service, which will be launched in early 2015, remains to be seen.
In the US, the traditional players made a successful joint play against Netflix by forming Hulu Plus; that service, a partnership between NBC Universal, 20th Century Fox and Disney, is a legitimate competitor to Netflix in the US market.
Rupert Murdoch, the 83-year-old founder of News Corporation, which owns 20th Century Fox, recently said Hulu's early growth was hampered by difficulties between the key partners in finding consensus on the platform's strategy.
"We've had a difficult partnership," he said. "Now I think we're all on the same page and we're going to drive that as hard and as fast as we can."
