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Consumers Adopting Streaming Digital Media

Streaming video and music distributed across the Internet or directly to a mobile handset is fast becoming a mainstream entertainment delivery vehicle that will generate more than $27 billion in network-derived and content-derived revenue into the U.S. markets by 2011, according to The Insight Research Corporation.

Streaming media refers to the transmission of digital audio and video files over an IP network or wireless network in real time or on-demand, while prohibiting users from storing the files locally. The streaming market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of nearly 32 percent over the next five years, driven by on-demand audio, on-demand video, as well as the accompanying advertising revenue.

�The US streaming media market has entered a growth phase, meaning it is experiencing realistic and sustainable growth,� says Robert Rosenberg, Insight Research president. �The forecasts that we present are conservative and in line with current performance. If, however, per-stream costs drop faster then anticipated, we have quicker acceptance of IPTV, or improvements in 3G delivery take place faster than expected, it could blow the doors off of our forecasts, propelling this industry into explosive growth,� Rosenberg continues.

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