Skip to main content

More Concern about Limited IPTV Adoption

Strong anticipated growth may result in 57 million IPTV homes by 2013 -- or triple the end-2008 figure, according to a new market study by Informa Telecoms & Media.

Despite this acceleration, only 4 percent of the world's remaining pay-TV households are forecast to subscribe to IPTV platforms by 2013. In fact, Informa's assessment states that only 14 countries will have more than 1 million IPTV subscribers.

Report author Simon Murray said "This fairly limited penetration comes from having to migrate subscribers away from long-established cable and DTH services, as well as the impact of broadcast DTT to a lesser extent. However, there are examples of IPTV gaining a foothold even in the most competitive markets."

In the short term, Informa forecasts 18.6 million IPTV households by the end of 2008, up 8 million in the year. Asia Pacific and Western Europe are each responsible for nearly 3 million of the additions, with North America adding only 1.7 million subscribers.

However, the global figure currently represents just 2 percent of TV households.

Much of the future growth is expected to be in Asia Pacific. It will become the largest region by 2010. By 2013, Asia Pacific will contribute 22.2 million of the 57.0 million global total. China alone will have crossed the 10 million mark.

The U.S. hopefully won't be too far behind China, which may surprise some given the high cable and satellite penetration in the United States. However, IPTV operators have already scored success, winning with their triple-play packages and the traditionally fraught relationship between U.S. consumers and the cable operators.

Hong Kong will remain the top country in the world for IPTV penetration of TV households, thanks mainly to the inroads made by global market leader PCCW.

PCCW enjoyed rapid take-up by offering subscribers a-la-carte channel options and monthly -- rather than annual -- subscriber contracts. PCCW has also taken advantage of the slow reactions of established cable operator I-cable.

However, the company is now encouraging subscribers to invest in longer term packages to increase revenues and reduce seasonality of revenues -- for example, turnover falls when the European soccer seasons end.

More than a third of Hong Kong's TV households receive IPTV signals. Although the growth is slowing, half its TV households will take IPTV by 2013. Hong Kong will remain way ahead of the next country.

By 2013, Singapore will be second, with 20 percent IPTV penetration. Singapore's market bears similarities to Hong Kong as SingTel battles against the established cable operator StarHub Cable Vision. Taiwan will be just behind Singapore with 19 percent penetration.

France will be in third place with 18 percent penetration, just ahead of the Netherlands and Belgium -- both of which are heavily cabled, but the IPTV operators have introduced attractive enough packages to win subs over.

By 2013, IPTV penetration will be higher than 10 percent of TV households in 12 countries. However, 14 countries covered in the Informa forecast will record penetration of 2 percent or less. Like the U.S. market, Latin America will record low rates, mainly due to the slow start of IPTV in much of the region.

Popular posts from this blog

Open Banking Usage to Grow by 470 Percent

The Open Banking business model has been advantageous for Third-Party Providers (TPPs), helping them to extend their offerings into other areas of financial services with new capabilities. Open Banking is also advantageous for traditional banking institutions, despite the perceived loss of custodianship over their data, by providing greater accessibility to more bank services. Furthermore, Open Banking can help serve Mobile Internet providers that are able to leverage it to create tailored services according to customers’ preferences and/or economic limitations. Open Banking Market Development Since traditional banking services are made more convenient by TPPs via greater data access, customers can proactively manage their finances and shape the development of new financial offerings. This is particularly noticeable in the realm of Digital Payments, where retail merchants and customers transact through eCommerce, which has the greatest number of use cases for Open Banking. These includ

Why Instant Issuance Payment Cards Evolved

The global financial services sector continues to grow as more progressive organizations seek to gain a meaningful competitive advantage from their digital transformation initiatives. Across the globe, many regions are seeing a significant rise in 'instant issuance' activity from a physical and digital perspective, from both traditional and emerging innovative banking institutions. Digital Payments Market Development Customers increasingly demand instant access to banking services, with physical instant issuance enabling them to leave their branch equipped with a ready-to-go payment card. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, the market for instantly issued physical payment cards will increase from 243.2 million shipments in 2022 to a forecast of 471.1 million in 2027. "Critically, instant issuance of payment cards is no longer limited to the physical," said Sam Gazeley, industry analyst at ABI Research . Indeed, the growing digitization of p

Global Digital Business and IT Consulting Outlook

Across the globe, CEOs and their leadership teams continue to seek information and guidance about planned Digital Transformation initiatives and the most effective enterprise organization change management practices. Worldwide IT and Business Services revenue will grow from $1.13 trillion in 2022 to $1.2 trillion in 2023 -- that's a 5.7 percent year-over-year growth, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The mid-term to long-term outlook for the market has also increased -- the five-year CAGR is forecast at 5.2 percent, compared to the previous 4.9 percent. Digital Sevices & Consulting Market Development IDC has raised the growth projection despite a weak economic outlook, because of vendor performances across 2022, growth indicators from adjacent markets, increased government funding, and inflation impacts. The actual 2022 market growth was 6.7 percent (in constant currency), which was 87 basis points higher than forecast last year, alth