More than half of Americans are now using at least one over-the-top (OTT) service, with most using three separate services across three different devices, according to a report from OpenX.

The survey of 2,002 US consumers, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of OpenX, found 52 per cent of US adults use at least one OTT service. These people are spending more than six hours on mobile each day and they spend more than two hours of this time watching mobile video. Meanwhile, almost a third of people said that screen size has no impact on how long they watch or what type of content they watch.

“Consumer attention is shifting significantly to OTT channels and this sea change in how we consume video content represents the most significant evolution in media consumption since the introduction of the smartphone,” said Dallas Lawrence, chief brand officer at OpenX. “More than half of all Americans now use an OTT service, and they stream a lot – more than two and a half hours every single day.  With OTT now capturing a significant percentage of total consumer video time, yet less than five per cent of total television ad spending, an enormous shift in how marketers diversify their advertising strategy is on the horizon.

“This research clearly signals that the OTT era has arrived, and with it, new and disruptive opportunities for marketers to elevate the power and efficacy of video brand advertising beyond anything we have seen before.”

The research also found that 54 per cent of people prefer an ad-supported service, with 29 per cent willing of all streamers open to a hybrid model where they pay a smaller subscription fee and still receive a few ads.

When it comes to advertising, OTT ads seem to be very effective. According to the report, 72 per cent of OTT users can recall seeing a specific OTT ad, while 66 per cent have learned about a new product or company from an OTT ad. Moreover, 40 per cent of users have seen an OTT ad and paused their content to either make a purchase or learn more about what they saw.