The global IPTV market will grow to $49 billion in service revenues
and 113 million subscribers in 2015 -- as multiscreen video usage drives
wireless services to new highs.
According to the latest
market study by MRG, systems revenue for the seven key IPTV products
analyzed will grow to $4.8 billion in 2015, with set-top boxes (STB)
representing about 60 percent.
As consumers add Wi-Fi for using smart devices within their homes,
market growth continues largely due to trends toward the mobile lifestyle
habits of 18-55-year-olds.
Based on semiannual updates of major global Operators and their
differentiating services and updated subscriber counts, Europe remains
ahead of Asia by 2015 in IPTV subscribers -- partially due to continued
regulatory confusion in Asia.
By 2015 worldwide, at least 25 IPTV Operators will have over 1 million
subscribers, with 9 having over 3 million, the U.S. having 2 Operators
with over 7.5 million each and Europe having 12 IPTV Operators with over
1 million each.
In a country-by-country analysis,
Eastern Europe shows noteworthy resilience and innovation -- as illustrated
by Romania’s 141 percent subscriber growth over one year ago.
Smart TVs are still not impacting overall STB penetration, due to
difficulty of TV makers in getting enough content-rights and due to the
slow replacement cycle of TVs in most parts of the world -- making Smart
TVs obsolete for new services.
Generally IPTV Operators are using integrated hybrid services -- merging
Satellite, DTT (Digital Terrestrial), IPTV and OTT (Streaming Video) --
both defensively and offensively, often using a combination of these to
supplement their IPTV services in an integrated electronic program guide
(EPG).
By offering integrated hybrid services, IPTV Operators are able to offer
additional integrated services not available on Smart TVs.
Vodafone Germany, for example, is offering IPTV and Satellite, while
using Broadband to offer video-on-demand (VOD). In Australia, Telstra is
using DTT for linear TV and the customers’ Broadband service to deliver
(streaming) movies from its BigPond service.
