Digital Lifescapes

Worldwide video on demand (VOD) rentals from over the top (OTT) and pay TV operators, electronic sell-through (EST), and DVD or Blu-ray disc sales are expected to increase by 40 percent from 2013 to 2019 -- growing from $30.6 billion in 2013 to over $43 billion by 2019. Physical media sales will continue its decline, while OTT VOD services and ad-based viewing take significant market share from combined physical purchases and EST, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. "New content windowing strategies, such as early VOD and EST release dates, will continue to push consumers to these distribution channels. In addition as pay-TV operators increasingly pursue OTT initiatives the consumers will further migrate to digital distribution," said Michael Inouye, senior analyst at ABI Research . Despite this trend, physical media will continue to play a significant role for many consumers, particularly for those who have extensive DVD or Blu-ray libraries, purchase...

In a bygone era, live TV programming was the top television content source. Now, the availability of digital video recorders (DVRs), Pay-TV on-demand services, and online streaming video options has changed the viewer's preferences. According to the latest market study by TDG , a growing number of TV viewers fall into segments inclined to first select a source other than live broadcast TV. The impact on the traditional broadcast television ecosystem has been significant. To better understand this shifting behavior, TDG developed a quantitative framework based on consumer First Glance TV preferences among different television content sources, including live broadcast, DVR-recorded, on-demand, and online shows -- as well as physical discs such as DVD or Blu-ray. Based on this analysis, TDG identified five key segments -- non-overlapping groups that exhibit unique TV source preferences. The dominant characteristics of each segment are as follows: Black-Box Baulkers - strongl...

In a few years from now, the perceived need for physical media formats could become a mere novelty, as more multimedia consumption moves online. Until then, there's the continued debate about the future of the Blu-ray Disc format. The name Blu-ray Disc (BD) refers to the blue laser used to read the disc, which allows information to be stored at a greater density than possible with red laser technology used for DVDs. It's not new technology. The first prototype Blu-ray Discs debuted in October 2000, and the first prototype player was released in Japan in April 2003. Its evolution and development continued until it was officially released in June 2006. According to the latest market study by In-Stat, they now forecast that the number of Blu-ray player units shipped will reach 105 million in 2015. “DVD players and recorder shipments will decline over the next five years for most regions. By 2015, DVD recorders will be essentially phased out entirely, with only negl...

While streaming video from the cloud is gaining momentum, when it comes to consumers managing and storing their own home video libraries, downloading and viewing digital video on their PC is still the preferred method. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , nearly 50 percent of U.S. broadband households report that they store their digital video home library on their desktop PC. A full 30 percent use their notebook PCs. Smaller percentages store digital video on their gaming devices, portable media players, Flash devices, and mobile handsets. "The digital entertainment industry is pushing U.S. consumers to shift to electronic sell-through (EST) and to build home video libraries." says Keith Nissen, Principal Analyst at In-Sat. However, digital video usage models are now a mix of physical discs, free content, video on demand, streaming and rental models, in addition to outright purchases. Nevertheless, downloading and storing video is a growing and import...

HDTVs are rapidly being enhanced with access to over-the-top (OTT) video services. Retailers, such as Best Buy, Walmart, and Sears-Kmart introduced online services and are actively promoting the new connected TV sets to compensate for the significant decline in DVD sales. To counter these initiatives, legacy U.S. pay-TV service providers -- no longer in denial of the market shift -- have begun deploying hybrid set-top boxes (STBs) that support both broadcast and online video viewing -- without the need for smart consumer electronics (CE) devices. Why Blocking and Tackling Isn't a Winning Strategy TV content producers are attempting to block access to popular content -- in the hope that they can stall the inevitable market transition to on-demand viewing. "The boundaries between market segments are blurring," says Keith Nissen, Principal Analyst at In-Stat . Today, manufacturers, retailers, service providers, and content producers are all reaching beyond their tradi...

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...

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...

The video entertainment industry has slowly adapted to media distribution technology innovations over the years, including reluctantly acknowledging the invention of the home Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) and Digital Video Disc (DVD) recorder. Now, as internet-based video streaming services and on-demand viewing of TV and movies has a growing impact on traditional revenue streams, the legacy media industry must adapt once again, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . In-Stat believes that identifying the successful new services, licensing models, and associated business models will require continual trial and error by the big-media content producers and pay-TV distribution companies -- with no apparent certainty of success. "The decline of retail video disc sales, coupled with on-demand viewing of TV content and the threat of video cord cutting, points to enormous changes ahead for the video entertainment industry," says Keith Nissen, Industry Analyst at In-...

Sales of Blu-ray disc (BD) players, excluding PS3, are expected to total nearly 24 million units this year across the three key growth regions -- USA, Europe and Japan -- according to the latest market study by Futuresource Consulting . "Last year's crucial Q4 period accounted for nearly half of all BD players that were sold globally in 2009, and the upward trend is continuing, with our projections showing in excess of 80 percent unit growth across this year," says Jack Wetherill, Research Consultant at Futuresource. This view is based on inputs from a wide range of companies operating in the global Blu-ray hardware business, including vendors, retailers and component suppliers, and forms part of their ongoing research in this area. All attention will once again be on the holiday season, with Futuresource predicting sales in excess of 11 million units in that quarter alone, a healthy year-on-year growth that will continue to drive BD adoption into the mass market. ...

eMarketer reports that traditional television broadcasters in the U.S. must respond to a growing trend. As TV program time-shifting and online over-the-top (OTT) video viewing have both increased in importance, there's been a corresponding decrease in interest with "live" broadcast TV. Furthermore, the TV set isn't the focal point that it used to be in America. According to a report from market researcher Morpace, nearly three in five U.S. consumers watch at least some video on a device other than a television. Morpace found that today only 52 percent of the total TV viewing time consisted of watching live TV. However, among younger adults ages 18 to 34, that proportion fell further to 41 percent. Adults 55 and older watched live TV almost two-thirds of the time. But, Gen Xers and younger American baby-boomers were evenly split between live TV and several time-shifting methods. Online OTT was the most popular alternative to live TV, with about half of consum...

Based on a survey of 1,007 U.S. households in which respondents watched full-length television shows or movies over-the-top (OTT) during the past month, the latest market study by One Touch Intelligence uncovered the following new insights. Viewing of full-length content from the Internet occupies 31 percent of the total time these viewers spend with various at-home television sources. That's more than twice the amount of time spent watching DVD or Blu-ray discs and 5 times the amount of time spent watching traditional On-Demand or pay-per-view content. Hulu is the most-watched ad-supported Internet video site, with 53 percent of Internet video households watching long-form content from Hulu at least once a month. The percentage of long-form Internet video households that watch Hulu is higher than the percentage watching YouTube. Viewers who watch Internet video on TV screens are significantly less likely to watch short-form content than those who watch over PCs, and are mor...

Driven by the increased adoption of products for digital video creation, there is an increased availability of enhanced, feature-rich, nonlinear editing solutions for digital media post production applications. According to the latest market study by Frost & Sullivan , that market had revenues of over $630 million in 2009 and is forecast to exceed $1.0 billion by 2016. "Software-based nonlinear editing products are quickly making the leap from nice-to-have to need-to-have competitive professional products for both high-end and low-end video segments," says Vidya Subramanian Nath, Global Industry Manager for Digital Media at Frost & Sullivan. The availability of highly competitive, economical, off-the-shelf products has ensured an increase in millions of professional and prosumer users for nonlinear editing software. In addition, with increasing efficiencies of PC processors, capture cards, low-priced storage, and networked workflows, popular nonlinear editing...

Within four years, 50 percent of U.S. homes will own a 3D-Ready TV, and the adoption of 3D–Ready Blu-ray players won't be far behind -- with one out of every three U.S. homes owning one, according to the latest market study by Futuresource Consulting . "Our research shows an imminent upsurge in the adoption of 3D-capable High Definition (HD) and Blu-ray hardware, now strengthened by a clearly defined 3D roadmap," says Jim Bottoms, Director at Futuresource. Futuresource expects that a high percentage of Blu-ray players will ship with 3D capability next year, and within a few years it will probably be difficult to buy an HD video disc player without 3D. Hunger for 3D content will also be driven by owners of PS3 consoles who will be able to play 3D Blu-ray content via a firmware upgrade. For those consumers not yet convinced by the HD experience, 3D will be a highly persuasive reason to upgrade. Combine this with other premium features -- such as connected TV and Entertainme...

U.S. video content producers say they're determined not to follow in the footsteps of the music recording industry, and for good reason. When consumers send you a signal that demand is shifting, you need to be ready and willing to adapt -- with an open mind. Nearly 37 percent of broadband households in North America are extremely or very interested in viewing Over-the-Top (OTT) video content on the Connected TV, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . Yes, this is a significant shift in consumer behavior. While DVD media demand is in decline, the online demand is growing as companies such as Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, and Apple, offer streamed or downloadable TV episodes and movie content. Similarly, a growing set of web-enabled TV devices are now proliferating across device categories that include digital TV sets, Blu-ray Players, Digital Media Adapters (DMAs), network attached storage, and set-top boxes (STBs). "By 2013, In-Stat predicts that nearly 40 percent of all d...

High-volume shipments of Blu-ray disc players, most of which feature IP network connectivity, are finally making inroads into the broader disc player and recorder market, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . By 2013, Blu-ray player shipments will still lag slightly behind the 90 million DVD player unit shipments. However, higher average selling prices will put Blu-ray player revenue at more than 4 times as large as DVD player revenue. "In North America, significant price drops of Blu-ray players drove unit shipments to triple in 2009," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. Regardless, other markets are still the leading adopters of this technology. The cost differential between standard definition DVD and Blu-ray is becoming much smaller and new features such as IP network connectivity are becoming increasingly important. Blu-ray is finally starting to make significant advances in the marketplace. Blu-ray players are predicted to become one of the key levers th...

Internet video device shipments will experience global growth of 78 percent year-over-year from 2009 to 2010, according to the latest market study by IMS Research . The Internet-enabled device categories that will see the most significant uptake in the short term are connected TVs and connected Blu-ray players. Rebecca Kurlak, author of their report, states "With the Blu-ray Disc Association releasing the Blu-ray 3D specification a month ago, and the continued decline in the device category's average selling price, IMS Research expects consumers to welcome Blu-ray players into their homes." With nearly all Blu-ray players manufactured with IP connectivity enabling access to video on demand (VoD) libraries like Netflix, Amazon, Vudu, and CinemaNow, Blu-ray players are now more compelling for purchase consideration than they have been since their market debut. Adoption of these new consumer electronics (CE) devices will ultimately increase the use of over-the-top IP video s...

There were numerous announcements about 3D technology during CES. The basic concept has been with us for many years, but had never reached common use. The popularity of Avatar and other 3D movies, however, will put 3D TV into the mainstream, according to the latest study by In-Stat . 2010 will be a big year for 3D entertainment, as movie studios release more 3D films shown in a growing number of 3D-equipped theaters. "Exposure to 3D films is important to the debut of 3D TV, because consumers who have seen 3D films are more interested than the general population in being able to view 3D content at home," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. In-Stat's 3D consumer survey shows that 64 percent of consumers are at least somewhat interested in 3D in the home. For those who have seen a 3D movie in the last 12 months, the percentage increases to 76 percent. In-Stat's market study found the following: - In-Stat projects worldwide 3D TV shipments will reach 41 million in 201...

According to the latest market study by Futuresource Consulting , televisions and Blu-ray video disc players that are capable of accessing IP Video content directly from the Internet emerged in Europe during 2009. It's a growing category, with a forecast of more than 20 percent of flat panel TVs shipped in 2010 being able to connect to the Internet (via Ethernet and/or Wi-Fi). "In Europe, four of the major brands have already launched Internet connected TV products that go beyond basic home networking functionality and allow delivery of over-the-top (OTT) web services," says David Watkins, Research Consultant at Futuresource. This includes basic weather and news pages, social networking, video streaming and catch-up TV. Although initially limited to high-end and mid-range products, Watkins believes that we're going to see a web connectivity feature on an increasing number of products next year -- eventually, becoming a standard capability within two to three years. Fu...

Results from an IMS Research market study shows that by the end of 2010, nearly 55 percent of all TV Households in the Americas will have access to Internet video, with 25 percent of these capable of displaying Internet video onto their TV set. Rebecca Kurlak, an IMS Research consumer electronics (CE) analyst, says "Now that retailers are actively marketing Internet-enabled devices, we can expect to see mass market adoption. As Blu-ray players have begun to offer price points that fall below $199, this price reduction will create a domino effect on other CE device prices." This has already been observed by actions taken by the game console market in Q3 2009. IMS currently estimates that by the end of 2010, 35 percent of TV shipments in the Americas will have internet connectivity (Ethernet and/or Wi-Fi) built-in. It will take about five years for the gap to close between connected TVs and other devices. Consumers continue to select devices that offer ease of use, and it just...

While the market for High-Definition TV (HDTV) has apparently reached the mainstream user, the consumer electronics industry has already started speculating about the commercialization of Ultra-High Definition (UHD) television. Perhaps we'll learn more at the upcoming CES in January. One question that I have, when will there be enough 4k and 8k resolution cameras in the hands of filmmakers and TV producers to create the required UHD video content for this format? In-Stat believes there will be a lengthy time period before the UHD market reaches a critical mass of 5 percent household penetration. However, as the initial market debuts over the next five to ten years, there will be ample opportunities for technology companies, manufacturers, service providers and media companies to experiment with business models and strategies to make UHD a strong business in the long term. "UHD formats provide between four and sixteen times the resolution of Blu-ray or 1080p high definition as...