--- title: "What Is MAU? Monthly Active Users Explained | RentAnOTT" description: "MAU is the number of unique users who use a streaming service in a month. See how it is counted, how it differs from subscribers and how platforms price on it." url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/mau" markdown_url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/mau.md" category: "Metrics" updated: "2026-10-05" --- # What is MAU? MAU (monthly active users) is the number of unique users who were active on a service at least once during a month. On a streaming service, active usually means signing in or starting playback. ## How MAU is counted Each user is counted once however many times they return or however many devices they use. The definition of active is a choice: opening the app, signing in or playing video. Playback is the strictest and the most meaningful for a streaming service. Decide whether anonymous visitors count. A free ad-supported service may have many viewers who never create an account; counting them needs device-level rather than account-level measurement. ## MAU vs subscribers Subscribers are people who pay. MAU is people who use the service. The two differ in both directions: a free tier adds active users who are not subscribers, and some subscribers pay without watching in a given month. The share of subscribers who are active each month is an early warning. Subscribers who stop watching usually cancel within a few months. ## Why MAU matters for platform pricing Many platforms size their plans by monthly active users, because that figure drives load on sign-in, catalog and playback systems. When comparing vendors, check how each defines an active user and what happens when you exceed the allowance. - DAU: daily active users, the same count over a single day - DAU/MAU ratio: how habitual use is; a higher ratio means viewers return on more days ## MAU on RentAnOTT RentAnOTT tiers include 10,000 monthly active users on Launch, 50,000 on Growth and 200,000 or more on Scale, at a flat monthly price with no fee per subscriber. [See pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing). ## Related terms - [Concurrent viewers](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/concurrent-viewers) — Concurrent viewers is the number of people watching a service's video at the same moment. The highest value reached, peak concurrency, determines how much streaming capacity the service needs. - [Peak concurrency](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/peak-concurrency) — Peak concurrency is the highest number of viewers watching a service at the same moment within a period, such as a day, an event or a month. It is the figure that capacity, and many platform plans, are sized against. - [Per-subscriber fee](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/per-subscriber-fee) — A per-subscriber fee is an amount a streaming platform vendor charges each month for every paying subscriber on your service, usually on top of a base plan. The total grows in step with your audience. - [Watch time](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/watch-time) — Watch time is the total amount of time viewers spend actually playing video on a service, usually reported in hours per month. It is the most direct measure of how much a service is used. - [ARPU](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/arpu) — ARPU (average revenue per user) is a service's total revenue in a period divided by the number of users in that period. It shows how much each user is worth on average, across subscriptions, advertising and one-time sales. - [Churn rate](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/churn-rate) — Churn rate is the percentage of a streaming service's subscribers who cancel or fail to renew during a period, usually a month. It is the main measure of how well a subscription service keeps its customers. ## Further reading - [OTT revenue calculator](https://www.rentanott.com/tools/ott-revenue-calculator) - [How to start a streaming service](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs/how-to-start-a-streaming-service) - [Features](https://www.rentanott.com/features) ## Frequently asked questions ### What does MAU stand for? MAU stands for monthly active users. ### Is MAU the same as concurrent viewers? No. MAU counts everyone who used the service at any point in the month. Concurrent viewers counts those watching at the same moment, which is a far smaller number and determines streaming capacity. ### What happens if a service exceeds its MAU allowance? It depends on the vendor. On RentAnOTT, a service that outgrows its tier moves up to the next one or to a dedicated stack. All 163 terms: [Streaming and OTT glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary). ## Book a demo Tell RentAnOTT what you are launching. The team walks through the platform and maps the path to go-live around your catalog, markets and revenue model. Book a demo: https://www.rentanott.com/contact ## More from RentAnOTT - [Home](https://www.rentanott.com/index.md) — What RentAnOTT is, what every plan includes, and how launch works - [Features](https://www.rentanott.com/features.md) — Every core feature and optional add-on - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing.md) — Platform tiers, apps, add-ons, usage rates and example bills in INR and USD - [Free tools](https://www.rentanott.com/tools.md) — OTT app builder and calculators for streaming revenue, bandwidth, bitrate and pricing - [Insights](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs.md) — All streaming business articles - [Glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary.md) — Definitions of streaming and OTT terms - [Book a demo](https://www.rentanott.com/contact.md) — Talk to RentAnOTT about your launch Full site in one file: https://www.rentanott.com/llms-full.txt