over-the-top media service An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributors ...

is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributors of such content. Most of these services are owned by a

major film studio Major film studios are production and distribution companies that release a substantial number of films annually and consistently command a significant share of box office revenue in a given market. In the American and international markets, the ...

. Some streaming services started as an add-on to Blu-ray offerings, which are supplements to the programs watched.

Streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

is an alternative to file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains the entire file(s) for the content before watching or listening to it. A client end-user can use the media player, computer, mobile phone, and smart TV to start playing

digital video Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data. This is in contrast to analog video, which represents moving visual images in the form of analog signals. Digital video comprises ...

content before the entire file have been transmitted. Users will need an Internet connection to stream or download video content. Users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream or download certain content.

Streaming video on demand

More than 100 million subscribers

50–99 million subscribers

20–49 million subscribers

1–19 million subscribers

Fewer than 1 million subscribers

Free, Ad-Supported Television (FAST)

Streaming television

The following services are owned and operated by television networks,

cable channel Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...

s, or other conglomerates in that market. They are major content producers, and their streaming services serve as the primary means of distributing the content that often first airs on their networks or channels.

Streaming music/audio on demand

Internet radio

Livestreaming

Active services

* 17Live * AcFun * AfreecaTV * Bigo Live *

Bilibili Bilibili (stylized bilibili), nicknamed B Site, is a video sharing website based in Shanghai where users can submit, view and add overlaid commentary on videos. Since the mid-2010s, Bilibili began to expand to a broader audience from its origi ...

* Caffeine (2018–) *

Dailymotion Dailymotion is a French video-sharing technology platform owned by Vivendi. North American launch partners included Vice Media, Bloomberg and Hearst Digital Media. It is among the earliest known platforms to support HD (720p) resolution video. ...

* DouYu * DLive (owned by BitTorrent) (2017–) * Facebook Live (owned by

Meta Platforms Meta Platforms, Inc., (file no. 3835815) trade name, doing business as Meta and formerly named Facebook, Inc., and TheFacebook, Inc., is an American multinational technology conglomerate based in Menlo Park, California. The company owns Facebo ...

) (2015–) * GoodGame (2008–) *

Huya Huya may refer to: * Huya Live, a live streaming service in China * Huya (mythology), the rain god of the Wayuu people of Venezuela and Colombia * Huya (noble), an Egyptian official during the reign of Akhenaten, Egypt 18th dynasty * 38628 Huya, ...

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

(owned by

) * KakaoTV * Kuaishou *

Likee Likee (; formerly LIKE) is a short-video creation and sharing app, available for iOS and Android operating systems. It is owned by Singaporean tech firm BIGO Technology, whose parent company is JOYY Inc., a Chinese firm listed on NASDAQ. The f ...

* LINE LIVE * LinkedIn Live * Livestream * NaverTV * Niconico * OK.ru * OnlyFans * Patreon * Pixiv Sketch * SHOWROOM *

Steam.tv Steam is a Digital distribution of video games, video game digital distribution service and storefront by Valve Corporation, Valve. It was launched as a software client in September 2003 as a way for Valve to provide automatic updates for their ...

* TikTok/Douyin * Triller * Twitch (owned by Amazon) (2011–) * Twitter * VK * V Live (owned by Naver Corporation) (2015–) *

Youku Youku Tudou Inc. (formerly Youku Inc.), doing business as Youku (), is a video hosting service based in Beijing, China. It operates as a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited. Youku has its headquarters in the Sinosteel Plaza in Haidian ...

* YouNow (2011–) * YouTube (owned by Alphabet Inc.'s Google) (2005–) * YuppTV

Former services

* Azubu (2012–2017) * CaveTube (2011–2016 or 2017) * Colon (2018–2019) * Cube TV (2018–2019) * FAN LIVE (2016(?)-2018) * FRESH LIVE (2016–2020) * Hitbox (owned by Azubu) (2013–2017) * Houseparty (2016–2021) * Huomao (2014–2021) *

Justin.tv Justin.tv was a website created by Justin Kan, Emmett Shear, Michael Seibel, and Kyle Vogt in 2007 to allow anyone to broadcast video online. Justin.tv user accounts were called "channels", like those on YouTube, and users were encouraged to br ...

(owned by Twitch Interactive/Justin.tv, Inc) (2007–2014) * KingKong (2018–2020) *

Meerkat MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Kilom ...

(2015–2016) * Mixer (owned by Microsoft) (2016–2020) * Panda.tv (2015–2019) * Periscope (owned by Twitter) (2015–2021) * Play2Live (2017–2019) * Quanmin.tv (2015–2018) *

Rabb.it Rabbit, also known as Rabb.it, was a video streaming website and mobile application. Launched in 2014, and based in California, United States, the service enabled multiple people to remotely browse and watch the same content in real-time. A hos ...

(2014–2019) * Smashcast (2017–2020) * Stream.me (2015–2019) * StreamCraft (2018–2019)

Explanatory notes

References

{{VOD services Home video Internet television streaming services