There is mounting evidence that the market development of digital video entertainment distribution in America has reached a significant milestone. Previously, the primary barrier to the increased adoption of long-form video online streaming was the apparent difficulty of viewing that content on a TV monitor.
Resolving the PC-to-TV connectivity and device configuration issues were considered the realm of the early-adopter and technology-savvy video entertainment consumer. While the perceived roadblocks are still a deterrent to a large segment of the total addressable market, the pragmatists in the early-majority seem to be guiding their peer-group to the practical solutions.
According to the latest market study by In-Stat, there are now 30 million U.S. broadband households currently viewing some form of online video on their TV sets. In addition to downloading digital video, close to 90 percent of these households also stream online video to their primary television.
Over the next five years, In-Stat expects that the majority of consumer electronics (CE) devices purchased -- including digital TVs, Blu-ray players and gaming consoles -- will be web-enabled with 137 million devices shipping in the U.S. in 2014.
"The future will be a hybrid environment in which consumers will get their digital entertainment from both pay-TV and online sources," said Keith Nissen, Principal Analyst at In-Stat.
He added, "Digital entertainment will be viewed on a plethora of web-enabled devices, dictated by content type, source, location, and many other factors. However, the home big screen TV will continue to be the preferred device for consuming both broadcast as well on-demand video content."
Key insights from In-Stat's market study include:
- Within five years, over 11 million pay-TV operator-provisioned hybrid set-top boxes will be capable of delivering online video content directly to the TV.
- By 2014 there will be 57 million U.S. broadband households viewing full-length online video on the TV.
- Web-to-TV video content revenue will reach $17 billion by 2014.
- Among households viewing Internet TV at least once a week, the 45 to 54-year old age group saw the biggest percentage increase from 2009 to 2010.
