Netflix leads global OTT viewership as Prime Video and Disney+ trail

MUMBAI: The streaming race is anything but a cliffhanger, at least for now. Netflix is projected to maintain a sizeable lead over Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ in worldwide subscription OTT viewership in 2026, with the three platforms expected to reach 871.7 million, 602.4 million and 329.0 million viewers, respectively, according to EMARKETER’s July 2026 forecast.

That puts Netflix 269.3 million viewers ahead of Prime Video and 542.7 million ahead of Disney+. Prime Video, meanwhile, is expected to retain the second spot, with a projected audience of almost twice the size of Disney+’s.

The forecast tracks worldwide subscription OTT video viewers from 2023 to 2030 and expects the same pecking order throughout the period: Netflix first, Prime Video second and Disney+ third. Netflix’s audience is projected to continue rising, while Prime Video also records steady growth. Disney+ is expected to recover from a decline in 2025 and return to growth from 2026.

There is an important catch to those eye-catching numbers: these are viewers, not paid subscribers. EMARKETER defines a viewer as someone who watches a platform through its app or website at least once a month. The Disney+ estimates also account for the transition from Disney+ Hotstar to JioHotstar, meaning the figures should not be directly compared with the subscriber numbers reported by the platforms themselves.

The global race comes as OTT consumption continues to expand in India. According to Ormax Media’s 2025 OTT Audience Report, India’s OTT audience reached 601.2 million people, up 9.9 per cent from 2024. The report defines the audience as people who watched online video content at least once during the previous month.

Connected television is growing too. India’s connected TV audience reached 129.2 million in 2025, an 85 per cent increase in a year.

The money following those eyeballs is growing as well. The FICCI-EY Media & Entertainment report for 2025 estimates that India’s video subscription revenue rose 61 per cent to Rs 148 billion. It estimates that 143 million households paid for 216 million video OTT subscriptions during the year, while putting the steady-state paid OTT audience at between 250 million and 320 million individuals.

India’s wider media and entertainment sector reached Rs 2.78 trillion in 2025, growing 9 per cent year on year, with digital media crossing Rs 1 trillion in revenue for the first time. FICCI-EY expects the overall sector to reach Rs 3.3 trillion by 2028.

For the global streaming giants, then, the numbers point to a market still expanding even as competition for attention gets fiercer. Netflix currently has the biggest projected audience by a comfortable margin, Prime Video is holding second place, and Disney+ is betting on a recovery. The streaming story may have many episodes left, but the leaderboard looks fairly settled for this season.