Digital Lifescapes

Online video entertainment has disrupted most legacy media companies that refused to acknowledge the market opportunities beyond traditional pay-TV services. This shift has become a global phenomenon. The impact and implications are far-reaching. Western European over-the-top (OTT) television and video revenues will more than double between 2015 and 2021. However, growth rates within each nation will vary considerably, according to findings from the latest market study by Digital TV Research. "OTT adoption is already high in Scandinavia, the Netherlands and the UK, but it has been much more muted in other countries -- such as France, Spain and Portugal," said Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research . European OTT TV Market Development OTT TV and video revenues in Western Europe will reach $14.64 billion in 2021 -- that's up from $6.40 billion in 2015. From the $8.25 billion in revenues to be added between 2015 and 2021, the UK will contribute $2.30 ...

While the traditional North American pay-TV industry has yet to respond to market share losses associated with Over-the-Top (OTT) video subscription services, this entertainment phenomenon is now gaining significant momentum in other parts of the world. Parks Associates announced new international data showing OTT video usage in Western Europe is continuing to expand, with 55 percent of UK broadband households and 51 percent in France watching TV programming and movies online -- that's compared to 70 percent in the U.S. market. However, the number of paid subscriptions in Europe is significantly lower, where 30 percent of broadband households in the UK and 17 percent in France subscribe to OTT video -- that's compared to 64 percent of U.S. broadband households. Video Subscription Service Market Development "OTT is definitely gaining traction across Europe. We are seeing new OTT video services spring up but not as many as in North America," said Brett Sappingto...

In theory, France has many of the necessary ingredients for a vibrant and growing over-the-top (OTT) video entertainment market -- a high broadband penetration rate, pay-TV operators that are active in multi-screen video, and good prospects for available mobile data apps. But there are many obstacles that service providers must overcome. Regulatory hurdles, like France's relatively strict Chronology of Media, or content windowing legislation -- which impacts Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) services -- limits the upside growth potential of many OTT movie services. "In relatively strong OTT markets like North America SVOD services like Netflix are significant revenue contributors to the overall market segment. France’s strict content windowing for SVOD, however, creates a challenging environment to replicate similar successes," said Michael Inouye, senior analyst at ABI Research . Despite these challenges, online video services like Dailymotion (owned by Orange) ...

Some of the largest traditional PC manufacturers reported record revenue and profit declines in the last quarter, as desktop and notebook sales continue to slide downward. Clearly, the bright outlook for the media tablet upside will not benefit those vendors that failed to grasp the significance of this market transition. Moreover, some regions of the world will present greater challenges than others. Take Europe, as an example. According to the latest assessment by eMarketer , two countries in the EU-5 that are being impacted by the dramatic financial turmoil in the region are understandably posting the slowest adoption of tablets. Although tablet growth in each country was above 100 percent during 2011, and users will double again this year, that's considered minimal progress when compared to their peers in Western Europe -- according to the latest estimates by eMarketer. France grew their tablet user base by 173 percent in 2011. In 2012, Germany's base will grow 149...

Use of media tablets -- such as the Apple iPad and the numerous variations of Google Android-based devices -- by consumers for viewing television or video content more than doubled in 14 regional markets that were surveyed recently, according to the latest market study by NPD DisplaySearch. This growth has occurred in conjunction with increased tablet adoption in these markets. The widespread tablet adoption was driven by improved broadband connectivity that has facilitated use of these devices as alternate content-viewing devices. The fastest growing region for media tablet usage is Turkey, with tablet use growing from 3.1 percent in 2011 to 16.5 percent in 2012. In addition, there was strong tablet usage growth in Germany (up nearly fourfold Year-over-Year), France and the U.S. (both up more than threefold Y/Y). Tablet Usage for TV/Video Content Viewing by Countries Surveyed Besides media tablets, consumers are also leveraging other alternate electronic devices such as not...

As you may recall, I've reported in the past about the amazing broadband internet service offering competition in France, which has helped to drive down subscriber costs and increase the adoption of enhanced information and communication technology (ICT) applications. That being said, eMarketer reported that France has trailed the rest of the EU-5 (Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) in microblog usage during 2012, but growth recently accelerated as French politicians sought out voters on social media during a very close presidential election. The presidential race is over, but eMarketer estimates that the popularity of social networking -- especially via mobile devices, such as smartphones -- will continue to increase throughout the country. eMarketer expects social networks to attract 21.9 million users in France in 2012, increasing to 23.6 million in 2013. While the total number of social network users in the country is impressive, the number of social network users acces...