Digital Lifescapes

The broadcast digital terrestrial television (DTT) set-top box market continues to expand, as countries migrate from standard definition (SD) TV to high definition (HD) programs, and digital video recorders (DVR) become a standard feature. New products like hybrid web-to-TV set top boxes also will contribute to the long-term growth of DTT STBs pushing revenues to nearly $6 billion by 2014, according to the latest In-Stat market study. “The bulk of the market value resides in Western Europe and Asia-Pacific with the key growth regions being Latin America and Asia-Pacific,” says Gerry Kaufhold, Principal Analyst at In-Stat. Sezmi TV will spur moderate growth for HD-DVR STBs in the U.S. market. The Middle East and Africa hold potential but not until the economic situation improves and local governments decide how they will handle subsidizing DTT converter boxes. Some of the In-Stat market study findings include: - Europe is embracing High Definition and optional Pay-TV service...

comScore released market study data showing that 172 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in November. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in nearly 5.2 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month. Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property with 145.8 million unique viewers. Yahoo! Sites took the #2 spot with 61.8 million viewers, followed by VEVO with 50.3 million viewers. AOL, Inc., which recently acquired 5min in September, secured fourth place with 47.7 million viewers. Viacom Digital closely followed with 47.3 million viewers. Google Sites had the highest number of viewing sessions with nearly 2.0 billion, and average time spent per viewer at 271 minutes, or 4.5 hours. Americans viewed more than 5.4 billion video ads in November, with Hulu generating the highest number of video advertisement impressions at more than 1.1 billion. Tremor Media Video Network ranked secon...

When mobile network infrastructure comes to mind in 2011, 4G LTE is likely the focal point. Yet the very meaning of the acronym -- Long-Term Evolution -- is a hint that the required network investment will proceed slowly. LTE's deployment as the mainstay 4G technology will take place gradually, and won't even begin to gather real momentum until 2013. Nonetheless, LTE is forecast by ABI Research to generate more than $11 billion in service revenue in the U.S market in 2015, with nearly a further $650 million to come from Western Europe. "The LTE service revenue growth curve for Western Europe is practically a straight line," notes ABI Research director Philip Solis. That contrasts sharply with constantly accelerating revenue growth in the US, and is largely due to the sometimes exorbitant amounts European network operators paid for their 3G spectrum -- many of those operators want to squeeze every drop of value from their 3G investments before migrating to 4G. ...

Worldwide pre-recorded Blu-ray video disc production is on track to exceed 400 million units in 2010, an increase of nearly 60 percent compared with 2009, according to the latest market study by Futuresource Consulting . When factoring in PS3 titles, overall BD production volumes are somewhat higher. "Moving forward we expect to see continued expansion in BD video production volumes, with our forecasts indicating that annual global output will reach two billion discs by 2014," says Michael Boreham, Senior Consultant at Futuresource Consulting. The BD replication industry has seen capacity utilization improve markedly during 2010. As a result of this output expansion, BD capacity utilisation will hit nearly 80 percent in the U.S. market during Q4 of this year and 75 percent in Europe. This is about as high as it can comfortably get, and given the continued market expansion expected over the next few years, which is being driven by growing player ownership and falling d...

Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest North American residential voice, data, and video services market study and forecast. There's a growing upside to the video services opportunity, with the transition from increased competition, that will gain new momentum in 2011. "Considering that revenue from video services will rival that of voice services by 2014, one of the more interesting trends going on in the residential services market is the number of video subscribers that are jumping from cable to satellite and telco IPTV," says Diane Myers, directing analyst at Infonetics Research. In 2010, residential cable video subscriber numbers are flat, while satellite video subscribers have been increasing slowly but surely over the last few years, and telco IPTV subscribers are up 40 percent from last year. Myers notes, "Video services are proving to be a hard fought battle. While cable operators have a legacy in North America, they have been unbending...

We now know that 2010 will go down in history as the first time that marketers invested more in online advertising than newspaper advertising, according to the latest eMarketer forecast. Total newspaper spending, including advertising in print and online editions, will fall to $25.7 billion in 2010, a decline of 6.6 percent. Spending on print newspapers alone will fall more steeply to $22.8 billion. Meanwhile, a rise of 13.9 percent will push U.S. online ad spending up to $25.8 billion by year's end. The spending gap will widen significantly next year, as total newspaper advertising spending falls again to $24.6 billion (including $21.4 billion for print) and online climbs to $28.5 billion. "It's something we've seen coming for a long time, but this is a tipping point," Geoff Ramsey, CEO of eMarketer, told The Wall Street Journal. Despite a drop in the dollar amount of online newspaper spending in a down economy, online has been accounting for a growin...

With close to 25 million cable digital set-top boxes (STBs) now enabled to deploy interactive features -- using enhanced binary interchange format (EBIF) technology -- U.S. cable operators will likely introduce more interactive advertising services in 2011, according to the latest market study by Heavy Reading . "After years of empty talk and dashed promises, cable appears closer than ever to establishing a viable, widely deployed platform for ITV advertising and t-commerce," notes Craig Leddy, research analyst with Heavy Reading. In 2011, consumers increasingly will see ads that enable them to use their TV remote to click for more information, get a coupon, request a sample, answer poll questions, or purchase products directly through their TV. Deployment of ITV-capable set-tops is fast reaching the level that can support interactive ad initiatives, Leddy says. Based upon the MSOs' tallies of EBIF-ready STBs, the industry is well on its way to reaching its 25 mil...

Infonetics Research released its latest Service Provider report -- which analyzes telecom carrier capital expenditures (capex), operational expenses (opex), revenue per user, and subscriber trends by operator, operator type, region, and telecom equipment segment. "Telecom capital expenditures are bottoming out at $289 billion this year, and our cycle-based forecast model and conversations with service providers indicate that a new investment cycle will start in 2011 and last several years, with capex growing to $321 billion in 2014 before growth slows again" says Stephane Teral, principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure at Infonetics Research. Overall, capital intensities will continue to slowly decline through at least 2014. because the world's telecommunications infrastructure is essentially built out. Infonetics market study highlights include: - From its peak in 2008, worldwide service provider capex declined 5.3 percent in 2009, and is on track to ...

The market opportunity for mobile marketing and advertising is growing steadily, and spending on the new content distribution channel is growing in parallel. One six-month period in 2010 saw spending expand in the U.S. by almost 2.5 percent. A new ABI Research market study forecasts that in 2016, revenue from mobile display ads will reach close to $1.5 billion. ABI Practice director Neil Strother says, "Although the market for mobile advertising and marketing is starting from a very small base, it is showing steady, solid growth. The recent survey conducted by ABI Research revealed that about one third of the smartphone owners polled had clicked on at least one mobile advertisement. Overall spending on mobile ad media has accelerated with the arrival of the autumn back-to-school and end-of-year holiday seasons, and is expected to approach $1 billion by year's end. Before 2010 this industry was seen as quite experimental, but, says Strother, "There was a shift s...

American home video retail revenue has fallen consistently over the past five years, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . Moreover, double-digit declines in annual retail sales of DVDs are expected, resulting in a total reduction of $4.6 billion from 2009 to 2014. Clearly, the U.S. home video entertainment market is in a transition. The progressive media content producers will adapt to the shift in consumer demand. This is now the accepted market reality. Meanwhile, to replace retail DVD revenue losses, the online digital paid video download and streaming segment -- which includes both purchase and rental -- is expected to show high revenue growth. Annual revenue of video streaming and download is forecast to grow from $2.3 billion to $6.3 billion within five years, says In-Stat. The battle lines for online offerings are continuing to be drawn and are intensely competitive. Online à la carte rental of TV episodes will directly compete with online subscription TV se...

In-Stat forecasts that American businesses will spend close to $27 billion on wireless data applications in 2010. To fuel data spending, In-Stat expects U.S. mobile service operators to pay $1.4 billion on subsidizing smartphones for those same businesses in 2010. Overall, U.S. mobile phone service providers will spend close to $1.7 billion on handset subsidies for American businesses. "Wireless data revenue has been the engine that is driving ARPU growth for U.S. operators," according to Greg Potter, Research Analyst at In-Stat. Smartphones are the key for data plan usage. As a result, the wireless operators are willing to invest in smartphone subsidies. Those device subsidies, though, will decline through the forecast period as competitive pressures reduces smartphone average sales prices. In-Stat latest market study found the following: - Small business (5—99 employees) spending on smartphones will decline 28 percent over the next 5 years. - Wireless handset s...

Some traditional marketers apparently can't move on -- they cling to the notion that that the legacy advertising business model can be kept on life-support via new tablet media applications. Recent market studies continue to give them the hope that they crave. eMarketer reports that the tablet category is going to be a magnet for brand advertisers in 2011. Though many companies had experimented with tablet-like devices -- and eReaders were already a proven entity -- no one had created a gadget that people would actually pay for and use, until now. eMarketer expects worldwide tablet sales to reach 81.3 million units in 2012, up from 15.7 million in 2010. The Apple iPad will remain the market-share leader through the forecast period, with an expected 69 percent of the global market in 2012 -- that's down from 85 percent share in 2010. Consumers in the U.S. will be big drivers of tablet sales, accounting for 62 percent of all tablets sold in 2010. "Because tablets o...

The global mobile phone market is now a significant opportunity for many consumer technology companies, shipping in the billions of units every year. So, it makes sense that the HDMI audio/video interface chip manufacturers would pursue it. HDMI on mobile phones enables advanced media-centric applications -- especially HD-enabled camera phones -- to connect to HD video displays, including HDMI-enabled digital television sets. That said, any video that can be seen on the phone can easily be viewed on a TV -- including streamed OTT pay-TV content. For the first time, the number of mobile phones with HDMI ports will ship in excess of a million units in 2010, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . Meanwhile, the HDMI interface has become pervasive in all consumer electronics, accounting for over 350 million devices shipping in 2010. "The emergence of phones that can capture 720p HD video has helped HDMI gain penetration over the last year," says Brian O'Rou...

The growing market for eBook readers has been somewhat limited to the United States, and has been led by the affordable Amazon Kindle , Barnes & Noble Nook, and Sony Reader. But according to the latest market study by ABI Research , starting in 2013 eBook reader markets will start to expand globally. ABI forecasts that more than 30 million readers will ship during 2013, almost double the 2012 total. "Digitized content is the key," says ABI principal analyst Jeff Orr. "It has been in the United States that the most content has been translated to digital form. The companies that provide the devices maintain tightly-integrated content stores that make access easy." In two or three years we will enter a period in which much more digital printed matter will become available in other countries and regions. Western Europe will be first, followed by Eastern Europe and Asia, especially China. While North American eBook consumers may now own more than one reader s...

Hong Kong is confirmed as the best value on earth for consumer broadband -- while Singapore joins the top ten nations worldwide for the first time -- according to the latest market study by Point Topic . The research data, which is collected on a quarterly basis by industry leading analysts at Point Topic, showcases the best value on offer to consumers around the world. "Consumers in different countries are faced with very different broadband tariffs, dependent on geography, market and network maturity, local competition and various levels and sources of subsidy," said Fiona Vanier, Senior Analyst at Point Topic. In the standalone tariffs that Point Topic tracks, advertised bandwidth can vary from 150kbps up to 1Gbps. Many come with data limits, email addresses or static IPs and that is before any 'special offers' are accounted for. To help comparison, Point Topic has analyzed the amount a consumer will actually pay for a megabit of bandwidth. For this analysi...

comScore reported key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending October 2010. The October report found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 24.2 percent market share, while RIM led among smartphone platforms with 35.8 percent market share. For the three month average period ending in October, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 24.2 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers -- up 1.1 percentage points from the three month period ending in July. LG ranked second with 21.0 percent share, followed by Motorola (17.7 percent share), RIM (9.3 percent share, up 0.3 percentage points) and Nokia (7.1 percent share). 60.7 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in October, up 14 percent from the preceding three month period, representing 1 out of every 4 mobile subscribers. RIM was the leading mobile smartphone platform...

While it's still true that LTE, the 4G mobile network standard, is destined to become the globally dominant wireless airlink, several formidable challenges will make its widespread adoption slower than many expect. As an example, spectrum has to be cleared, licensed, and either allocated or sold off before LTE gains meaningful momentum. As every country has its own telecommunications regulations, these factors will take varying periods of time to be resolved. However, despite this difficult path to adoption and growth, according to the latest market study by In-Stat , the number of LTE subscribers will approach 115 million by 2014. "U.S. operator LTE CAPEX spending will drive wireless leadership from Asia and Europe to North America," says Chris Kissel, Industry Analyst for In-Stat. From 2009 to 2014, more than one quarter of global LTE CAPEX spending will occur in the U.S. market. As a result, the U.S. will have more LTE subscribers than the entire Asia-Pacific r...

eMarketer reports that U.S. local mobile phone advertising revenue is likely to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 57 percent from 2009 through 2014, according to the latest market study by BIA/Kelsey. Local spending on the mobile ad channel is set to rise from $404 million this year to $692 million in 2011 and over $2 billion by 2014, according to their current forecast. "We expect to see more bundling of mobile advertising by digital and local media companies, in an effort to lower the barriers for adoption by small and medium-sized businesses," said Michael Boland, program director at BIA/Kelsey. As a result, mobile advertising will move down market to SMB and mid-market segments, increasing the overall revenue opportunity and share of geo-targeted ads. This down-market shift will be coupled with large advertiser evolution and adoption of mobile local ad distribution. BIA/Kelsey forecasts mobile ad revenues to increase from $790 million this ye...

In the competitive and rapidly evolving pay-TV market, broadband service providers are now planning to add complementary online video services that require the installation of new hybrid IP set-top boxes (STB). In many cases, service providers are now reacting to the market entry and adoption of low-cost on-demand pay-TV offerings. The legacy pay-TV providers hope that the addition of more HD channels and new Over-the-Top (OTT) video services will be strong contributors to demand for their entertainment offerings over the next few years, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "Since telcos in most geographic regions have significant competitors for TV services, many are working in concert with set top box manufacturers to develop new boxes," says Michelle Abraham, Industry Analyst for In-Stat. Vendors are also enhancing their STBs to make installation and remote management of boxes easier for telcos. Moreover, most of the traditional pay-TV STB design c...

3DTV prices have fallen by close to 40 percent in some cases, and adoption of 3DTV is occurring at a faster rate in most territories than it did for high-definition television (HDTV), according to the latest market study by Futuresource Consulting . Futuresource expects global sales of 3DTVs to exceed four million this year. Across Western Europe alone, 1.2 million 3DTVs will be sold, rising to more than three million in 2011. In the U.S. market, more than five million 3DTVs will be sold next year. "3DTV will continue to provide premium brand CE manufacturers with a way to differentiate themselves from the competition and add value for consumers," says Bill Foster, Senior Technology Consultant at Futuresource Consulting. For systems that use active glasses technology, manufacturers are now able to embed 3D chipsets at a relatively low cost, allowing them to increase their margins while still keeping 3D affordable. Passive glasses technology, as used in cinemas, is sti...

The major Hollywood movie studios are already taking 3D content from cinemas to the home as TV manufacturers ship increasing numbers of 3D-ready TV sets. While these efforts are aimed at the consumer home theater environment, the trend is enabling the next evolution -- 3D video on mobile devices. In-Stat anticipates that the number of 3D-enabled mobile devices shipped in 2014 will surpass 60 million units. "Due to advancements in auto-stereoscopic 3D technology, a type of 3D technology that does not require glasses to view 3D images, 3D technology is finding its way into mobile devices," says Stephanie Ethier, Senior Analyst at In-Stat. The more predictable viewing distance of mobile devices enables a compelling and convenient 3D experience. Additionally, many of the chipsets found in today's smartphones have the processing power to handle 3D content. Therefore, according to In-Stat's assessment, the smartphones promise the largest opportunity for mobile 3...

The latest global market study by ABI Research indicates that there are currently more than 500 3G network commitments, and over 300 4G WiMAX and LTE announcements worldwide. This equates to more than two billion of the world's population being covered by high-speed wireless mobile data networks. The demand for wireless broadband data networks continues to rise across the globe. "While many networks in U.S. and Europe are working towards complete coverage for 3G services, some mobile operators in other regions find themselves tangled up with government bureaucracy, which impedes progress in upgrading the network technology," said Neil Strother, mobile services director at ABI. India has at last concluded its 3G spectrum auction after repeated delays; Thailand's attempt to catch up with 3G licensing has once again stalled due to reorganization of the national telecoms regulator. ABI Research estimates that nearly 82 percent of the population in Western Europe ...

In a recent market study, Ipsos looked at usage scenarios with the most common Over-the-Top (OTT) video offerings -- assuming free ad-supported content wasn't available -- in an attempt to predict the growing demand for low-cost pay-TV service models in the U.S. market. To make the scenarios as realistic as possible for study participants, the Netflix subscription was priced at $9 per month, Apple iTunes downloads were priced at $1 with no advertising support, and Hulu streams were priced at $1 with advertising support. When analyzing differences by age, it was clear that young adults (18-34 years old) were driving growth in paid viewership through OTT video platforms -- with over half (51 percent) interested in viewing their regularly watched programs through a low-cost pay-TV option. "While Hulu has set a precedent for free post-airing streams with ad support, growth continues to be driven by the 18-34 year old audience as more post-broadcast content is moved into pay...

When most industry analysts profile digital marketing and online advertising in North America, the focus is typically on the U.S. market. That said, Canada has a relatively high internet access penetration and growing social network usage rates. According to a recent eMarketer report, Canadian social network users view social media as their online home -- a hub for communication, entertainment and information. "Canadians readily adopt social network activities, often at rates higher than users in the U.S., but gaining the trust of users on a social network is a brand manager's biggest obstacle," said Mike Froggatt, eMarketer research analyst. In 2010, eMarketer estimates that about 15.1 million internet users in Canada will have visited social networking sites at least monthly -- up from 13.6 million in 2009. Penetration will rise from 59 percent of the internet audience this year to 68 percent by 2014 -- when 18.4 million people in Canada will be socializing on...

Most television sets are manufactured in Asia. As the major consumer electronics brands plan to introduce new smart TV models at the upcoming CES event in January, manufacturers are increasingly adding Internet connectivity as a standard feature. This phenomenon will include the high-growth Chinese market. China's connected TV market originally launched in 2009, with over 2 million web TV set shipments and about a quarter million web TV set-top box (STB) shipments. The fast development of the web TV market is driven by competition between the giant domestic TV vendors in China and the low incremental cost for connected TV functionality -- helping drive wider user acceptance. As a result, In-Stat now forecasts web-enabled TV shipments will exceed 15 million units by 2014. However, the web TV STB market does face some challenges, associated with its limited sales channel and high retail pricing. According to In-Stat's market assessment, some telecom operators are deployi...

Infonetics Research released its 2010 third quarter market study of the Cable TV hardware systems and services industry. The results are mixed; there are several significant declines, and the future is somewhat uncertain -- with no sign of an imminent recovery. After four quarters of sequential growth, a decline in the cable aggregation systems market was inevitable, and it happened in the third quarter of 2010, with a 23 percent drop in worldwide revenue -- CMTS revenue was down 27 percent; edge QAM revenue was up slightly. "In North America, CMTS revenue was down 30 percent, as Comcast and other operators slowed their DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts because they've either reached their homes-passed goals or they are waiting on new line cards," notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access at Infonetics Research . The Infonetics market study included the following findings: - CMTS port shipments and revenue declined in all world regions in 3Q10, including double-...

Over-the-top (OTT) video services are gaining momentum, enabled by new devices entering the digital home. Over 53 million U.S. broadband households currently view TV programs over the Internet, according to the latest market study by In-Stat. A growing 85 percent of these users already view online TV content on multiple devices -- including personal computers, TVs, and mobile handsets. By 2014, there will be over 200 million web-enabled wireline Consumer Electronic (CE) devices in operation in the U.S. market. When PCs and mobile devices are added in, the average U.S. consumer will own between 5-10 web-enabled devices to choose from for viewing Internet-based digital entertainment. "Today, content is consumed in a myriad of ways over a plethora of devices," says Keith Nissen, Principal Analyst at In-Stat. The relationship between the user, the content they view, and the device they watch it on, has become complex. Traditional viewing habits no longer apply and, as a ...