The Development of the Legal Audio and Video Content Market
The international market for audio and video content is growing exponentially. According to experts, the online streaming market alone will grow by more than 9.3% over the next few years, reaching around USD 74 billion by 2024. Revenue from subscription services will surpass that from services operating on an advertising-based model, reaching USD 21.6 billion by 2021. In Russia, the online streaming market increased by 17% to RUB 7.4 billion in 2016. In the medium term, the growth of this sector will depend as much on effective Internet copyright protection as on the regulation and development of services offering online streaming. Does the increased share of subscription services in the online streaming market signal the end for the advertising-based revenue model? What is the optimum business model for the regulation and development of services which offer users convenient access to high-quality, affordable legal audiovisual content?