Video streaming is one of the most popular app categories, with users spending over seven hours a week watching videos. Some of the top apps, such as TikTok, YouTube and Netflix, have the highest average weekly usage across all apps.
The size of the category means there are a variety of metrics that are important to track. Both free and paid streaming services want users engaged for as long as possible, but for free services the aim is to have users see as many ads as possible, whereas for paid the goal is to have enough content to keep a user paying their subscription.
With paid streaming services, metrics such as reactivation and refund rates are important, as they can ascertain why users are unsubscribing from their service. Tracking new content uploads to a higher reactivation rate may indicate that users are only interested in one series, and won’t subscribe simply for the content library.
A lot of the value of video streaming comes from the content availability, which is similar to the networking effect of social, where if there’s not enough content in the library users will quickly go elsewhere regardless of the quality of the app. YouTube, TikTok and Netflix have all prospered in different ways by having a large variety of content available.
We have collected benchmarks on video streaming apps. Read on below to find out more.
Video Streaming Key Benchmarks
- Video streaming apps have a retention rate of 3% in 2024
- Conversion rate for video streaming apps was 17.5% on Google Play and 3.2% on iOS
- The activation rate for video streaming apps was 21% on day 1, dropping to 6% by day 30
- Monthly subscriptions have the highest reactivation rate for video streaming apps, at 14.1%
- The average subscription price of a video streaming app was $5.60 for a month, $35.40 for a year
- The app tracking transparency opt-in rate for video streaming apps was 33% in 2025
- Users spend about seven hours and 30 minutes on video streaming apps per week
Want to learn more about the video streaming app industry? In our Video Streaming App report, we cover financials, forecasts, usage, downloads, demographics and benchmarking data.
Video Streaming App Report 2025
Video Streaming App Retention Rate
Video streaming apps had a retention rate of 3% in 2024. This has dropped since 2020, when it was at 3.6%.
Video streaming app retention rate 2020 to 2024 (%)
Video Streaming App Conversion Rate
Conversion rate is the rate of app store page views to downloads, install is the rate of impressions to downloads. Google Play has a much higher conversion rate for video streaming apps than iOS. Install rate for video streaming apps sits at 0.9%, much lower than the average.
Video streaming app conversion rate by platform 2024 (%)
Video Streaming App Activation Rate
Activation is the percentage of users that have completed various onboarding and activation tasks. The activation rate for video streaming apps was 21% on day one, dropping to 6% by day 30.
Video streaming app activation rate 2024 (%)
Video Streaming App Reactivation Rate
Monthly subscriptions have the highest reactivation rate for video streaming apps, at 14.15%.
Video streaming app reactivation rate 2024 (%)
Video Streaming App Subscription Price
The average cost of a video streaming subscription is almost identical for weekly and monthly, but it should be noted there are far fewer weekly subscriptions. An annual subscription is almost half the price of paying 12 months monthly.
Video streaming app average subscriptions price 2024 ($)
Video Streaming App ATT Opt-In Rate
The app tracking transparency (ATT) opt-in rate has improved for video streaming apps since it was added by Apple in 2023. One-third of users now opt-in, a higher than average percentage.
Video streaming app tracking opt-in rate 2023 to 2025 (%)
Video Streaming App Refund Rate
Video streaming apps have a higher refund rate than the average, at 4.4% compared to the average of 3.4%.
Video streaming app refund rate 2024 (%)
Video Streaming App Session Length
Video streaming app session length has dropped by about 45 minutes since 2020. Users spend on average about seven hours 30 minutes on video streaming apps each week.
Video streaming app session length 2020 to 2024 (minutes)
Video Streaming App Number of Sessions
The number of monthly sessions has also dropped since 2020, from 18 to 15. This is one of the lowest number of sessions of any app category.
Video streaming number of app sessions 2020 to 2024
Video Streaming In-App Response Rate
The in-app response rate, which is the rate in which users respond to feedback and other response prompts, was 24% on video streaming apps, below the average for all apps.
