[supertrope]

H.264's most likely successor was HEVC. While Google and Mozilla strongly prefer VP8/VP9, most video content distributors are okay with paying the license fee for H.264. One patent pool, one license fee. HEVC's patent pool fragmented. So even after you pay one fee there might be another one or even worse patent trolling litigation. So non-broadcast companies are adopting av1 to avoid using HEVC when possible.