Skip to main content

Over the Top Video Will Be the Most Disruptive

Amid news of technology heavyweights such as Apple Computer and Amazon.com lining up their resources to address the Video-on-Demand (VOD) market, iSuppli Corp. is predicting the global VOD market will grow to nearly $13 billion by the year 2010.

VOD growth will be driven by various delivery systems, including Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), broadband/Internet and networks run by cable and satellite operators. While 2006 will be a banner year for the VOD market, the real explosive growth will begin in 2008 when these delivery systems begin to mature. By 2010, the global VOD market will generate more than $12.6 billion in revenue, up from $1.7 billion in 2006, iSuppli predicts.

Global IPTV equipment deployment, a growing breadth of movie content, the ability to “download and burn” content, the increasing availability of consumer electronics equipment with IP connections and a rising mobile phone television market will contribute to the rapid acceptance of VOD. Such growth has interested a multitude of companies across many industries.

“This sets the stage for an epic battle among cable, satellite, IPTV and new broadband video operators,” said Mark Kirstein, vice president of multimedia and content services at iSuppli. “As users expect more interactivity and a greater personalization in their services, VOD is among the key technologies that will address the changing behavior of television audiences.”

Broadband/Internet VOD, the type of distribution system that Apple announced, represents the most interesting -- and yet most challenging -- category for VOD. In such schemes, broadband delivery of VODis offered "over the top" of service providers’ existing broadband networks. The technology relies on consumer data broadband connections and is delivered on a best-effort basis.

Because this type of VOD is less restrictive than IPTV, enabling content to reach more consumers with minimal geographic restrictions, broadband/Internet promises to be potentially the most disruptive market for VOD. Beyond challenging the incumbent television carriers, Broadband/Internet VOD could present a threat to other industries.

“The impact of VOD could stretch well beyond remaking the television landscape, with its potential to replace a significant portion of DVD rental and retail sales and the possibility it could decimate the movie theaters’ monopoly on first-run films,” Kirstein said. “It’s almost a certainty that 15 years from now, the business of direct DVD sales or physical DVD rentals will dwindle to be a fraction of today’s market -- at best.”

Popular posts from this blog

Why AI Budgets Miss a $9.2 Billion Storage Problem

The worldwide external enterprise storage systems market reached a key point in the first quarter of 2026, and the implications for organizations running Applied-AI initiatives are impossible to ignore. IDC's latest market study reveals that systems grew 22.7 percent year-over-year to $9.2 billion, a dramatic acceleration from the 3.9 percent full-year 2025 growth rate. For enterprise leaders who have spent the past two years prioritizing GPU clusters and server infrastructure while treating storage as a secondary consideration, this data should serve as actionable guidance. The storage bottleneck in AI deployment is no longer theoretical, and the market dynamics now unfolding will directly shape the cost, timeline, and architectural viability of AI programs through at least 2027. Storage Systems Market Development The first quarter of 2026 produced several milestones that demand the attention of any organization with active or planned AI infrastructure investments. All Flash Array...