Digital Lifescapes

Consumer video entertainment is about to evolve, once again. High dynamic range (HDR) features will infiltrate some full high-definition (HD) television sets and thereby help to boost the emerging 4K TV set (UltraHD) market momentum. ABI Research forecasts that HDR TV shipments will grow at a 41 percent CAGR and reach 245 million units in 2022. According to their assessment, 8K TV sets are still years away from reaching the global market, with market hype currently centering on Japan’s plans to deliver 8K video at the 2020 Olympics. HDR TV Market Development "As evident with Sony’s recent announcement to include HDR in all its new TV sets, the next-generation TV technology will soon be a prominent feature in many UltraHD TV sets," said Khin Sandi Lynn, analyst at ABI Research . While some less expensive TV sets will not yet support the new technology, high-end TV manufacturers recognize the value that HDR functionality brings to the customer viewing experience. Vend...

According to the findings from a recent study, Connected TV devices are now in nearly two-thirds of all television households within the U.S. market. There are already more connected TV devices in U.S. households than there are pay-TV set-top boxes. Leichtman Research Group (LRG) finds that 65 percent of American TV households have at least one television set connected to the Internet via a video game system, a smart TV set, a Blu-ray player, and/or a stand-alone device -- that's up from 44 percent in 2013, and 24 percent in 2010. Connected TV Market Development Results Among those with any connected TV devices, 74 percent have more than one device, with a mean of 3.3 per connected TV household. Those with a connected TV generally find them to be easy to use: 70 percent of all with a connected TV agree (8-10 on a 1-10 scale) that streaming services like Netflix are easy to access via connected TV devices, while 12 percent disagree (1-3). The LRG study also found that 7...

Digital video entertainment continues to gain momentum around the globe, as more consumers embrace high-definition broadcast television services -- many will also choose to connect their TV sets to the internet and subscribe to over-the-top video streaming offerings. Based on forecasts for 138 countries, the number of digital TV homes will increase by more than 1 billion between 2010 and 2020 to reach 1.65 billion -- that's up by 180 percent, according to the latest worldwide market study by Digital TV Research . The total digital television households will climb by 134 million during 2015. According to their assessment, global digital TV penetration will reach 97.6 percent of television households by the end of 2020 -- that's up from 40.5 percent at the end of 2010 and 67.2 percent at the end of 2014. By 2020, 93 countries will be completely digital, compared with only 17 at end-2014. It's now forecast that about 124 countries will have more than 90 percent digital...

The video entertainment sector is still going through a period of transition, as consumer viewing habits shift and evolve. Besides, in the mature markets -- such as North America -- more subscribers are expected to totally abandon pay-TV due to the rising cost of traditional services. Meanwhile, the worldwide pay-TV market is expected to surpass 920 million subscribers by the end of 2014, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. Overall, pay-TV average revenue per user (ARPU) is expected to drop slightly due to increasing price competition, but at a lower rate compared to the ARPU drop in 2013. "The growing number of high-definition (HD) subscribers as well as major sporting events such as the World Cup 2014 have contributed to improving ARPU," said Jake Saunders, VP and practice director of core forecasting at ABI Research . As a result, the total pay-TV service provider market is expected to generate over $269 billion by the end of 2014. Notably, Dire...

People who view long-form video content on their mobile devices appreciate the new higher resolution displays. Quad HD (2K) screens currently occupy the premium end of the smartphone market. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, by 2015 we will likely see Ultra HD (4K) capable mobile devices. Mobile devices with 4K screens are forecast to reach 478 million units by 2019. This resolution race, however, is more about marketing and differentiation than user experience, given current video content that's availability. Considering the relatively close proximity of the screen to the user it is possible for some consumers to see and benefit from these higher resolutions, but differences are incremental and not dramatic for most consumers. "While some content owners and broadcasters have or are preparing to launch 4K programming, video resolution delivered to mobile devices will continue to lag behind screen pixel densities," said Michael Inouye, senior anal...

Here in the United States, when high-definition television sets were first introduced in the marketplace there was a very limited supply of HD video content available. Moreover, even today, most American pay-TV service providers still offer a modest amount of HD-quality live broadcast or archived video content. Ironically, if you're interested in access to an abundance of better quality high resolution video content, streaming it from the Internet (as an example, via HBO GO) or using a Blu-ray disc player is still the best approach for HDTV owners. So, what's the overall market outlook? According to the latest market study by ABI Research, 4K or Ultra HD is the future -- but it's going to be a market development marathon, not a sprint to higher resolutions. And, while 1080p TV screens are the norm and mobile screen resolutions continue to climb, plenty of streamed HD content is still distributed in 720p or lower. Over-the-top (OTT) video entertainment services such ...

The traditional video entertainment industry in developed nations had a difficult period of transition last year, as retail sales of content on DVD and Blu-ray discs was either flat or declining, and pay-TV revenues were somewhat spotty. The days of huge gains appear to be over in many of the key saturated markets. Regardless, some industry analysts remain hopeful for a market recovery. The global pay-TV subscriber base increased by a little more than 5 percent in 2013, raising the total to 901.1 million. However the average revenue per user (ARPU) dropped to $23.80 in 2013 -- from $24.10 in 2012. "In general, the pay-TV market grew both in terms of subscribers and service revenue across all pay-TV platforms. Overall pay-TV service revenue reached almost $250 billion in 2013," said Jake Saunders, vice president at ABI Research . Pay-TV ARPU in North America increased around 4 percent to $76.00 in 2013. According to legacy pay-TV operators, the growth in ARPU is due to...

In many markets across Western Europe, pay-TV services have already reached saturation. That's why Eastern Europe is so attractive to video entertainment service providers. It's a huge upside opportunity. The number of digital pay-TV subscribers will increase from 26.1 million (21.5 percent of TV households) in 2010 to 45.0 million (36.6 percent) in 2013 and eventually reach 73.6 million (58.2 percent) by 2020, according to the latest market study Digital TV Research. As Eastern Europe recovers from the region's economic recession, the number of digital TV homes will triple between 2010 and 2020 -- that's up from 41.0 million to 124.7 million. From the 52.3 million digital TV homes to be added between 2013 and 2020, DTT will supply 24.9 million, digital cable 15.3 million, IPTV 6.6 million and pay satellite TV 5.8 million. Digital TV penetration crossed the halfway mark of TV households in 2012, up from a third at end-2010. Fast adoption will push digital TV pen...

As lower-cost online alternatives gain momentum, more Pay-TV service providers are attempting to make their legacy video entertainment offering more attractive by adding new features to their standard subscription package. DirecTV’s Genie, Liberty Global’s Horizon, Dish’s Hopper and the HD DVR boxes that power Comcast’s X1 service all have something in common -- other than better marketing names than an older generation of boxes more commonly known by their model numbers. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, these feature-rich devices bring more channel tuners to centralize digital video recorder (DVR) resources -- minimizing DVR conflicts, as well as better processing power. This increased processing power improves responsiveness and the device user interface. ABI believes that deployment of the device will also act as a Trojan Horse -- while pay-TV operators try to extend home automation and energy management services into their subscriber homes. These featur...

Incumbent U.S. pay-TV service providers would rather forget 2013 -- since it will be remembered as one more year where the major MSO cable operators collectively reported hundreds of thousands more video subscriber disconnects and service downgrades each and every quarter. In urban markets throughout America, price-sensitive consumers abandoned traditional pay-TV service and turned to a combination of free over-the-air broadcast digital television and subscription streaming OTT video entertainment offerings -- such as Netflix and Hulu. In some markets Telco challengers gained new pay-TV subscribers with limited-term lower-price service bundle promotions. However, once the promotions expire, some of these subscribers fail to convert to full-price customers. The story is very similar in other saturated markets all around the world. Global Pay-TV Subscription Market in Transition Infonetics Research released findings from its latest "Pay TV Services and Subscribers" mark...

The digital video entertainment industry has seen mixed results this year, as pay-TV service providers find little growth in saturated markets. Regardless, the worldwide pay-TV subscriber base surpassed 886.5 million at the end of 3Q 2013 -- that's a 6 percent YoY increase, generating $62.6 billion service revenue in the third quarter. "Emerging markets are key drivers of global growth in pay-TV subscribers as developed markets are experiencing flat growth rates,' said Jake Saunders, VP and practice director at ABI Research . The pay-TV subscriber base in Western Europe grew less than 2 percent in 3Q 2013 from 3Q 2012. Notably, the number of subscribers in Spain and Italy has been declining for a number of consecutive quarters. Respectively, pay-TV service providers in Spain and Italy lost over 7 percent and 2 percent of their total subscriber base compared to a year ago. Pay-TV operators blame the weak economic environment for declining subscriber counts, but it ...

The traditional pay-TV services market continues to evolve, as over-the-top video streaming providers expand their offerings across the globe. The competition is also prompting the legacy pay-TV companies to invest in infrastructure for new capabilities. Infonetics Research released excerpts from its Broadcast and Streaming Video Equipment and Pay TV Subscribers market study, which tracks pay-TV subscribers and video equipment sold to telco IPTV, cable, and satellite service providers. "With competition and content heating up, pay-TV providers are transitioning their traditional, broadcast-focused video processing environments to ones that can ingest, process, deliver, and decode video content from multiple sources," said Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research . At the same time, content owners and studios are also adjusting their workflow and video output to support multiscreen and streaming services. The net result of t...

By end 2012, North America and Western Europe had effectively made the transition from legacy analog broadcast technology to digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasts. The next milestone year (2015) was established by the ITU and a number of countries in Eastern Europe and Middle-East Africa are hoping to satisfy this goal. With a later start to digital services a number of countries in these regions are starting with DVB-T2, avoiding the conundrum facing established DVB-T markets looking to migrate to the newer technology. "If remaining analog shutoff timelines go largely as planned, we expect over 18 million DVB-T2 STBs will ship in 2015," said Michael Inouye, senior analyst at ABI Research . Other potential factors, like spectrum reallocation for mobile broadband in Western Europe, might increase the demand for DVB-T2 boxes, but this likely won't be a significant factor until the latter half -- if not past the 2018 forecasting window, according to the lat...

If you've followed the news last year about the consistent decline in cable TV subscribers within the United States, then you may have assumed ​that the overall market was in decline. The worldwide pay-TV market actually grew at a steady pace in 2012 generating $238 billion by end-of-year, that's up from $223 billion in 2011, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. The global pay-TV market is expected to generate $304 billion in 2018 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4 percent. In some markets, continued revenue growth will likely come from increases to subscriber fees -- not from the addition of new subscribers. That being said, the global service revenue contributions from cable TV are proving to be mixed, according to ABI's current assessment. The Asia-Pacific region saw service revenue growth due to underlying increase in subscriptions. However, cable TV operators in North America are experiencing an ongoing decline in service revenue ...

It's estimated that there are 425 million devices connected to the Internet in U.S. homes, according to the latest market study by The NPD Group. They found that while personal computers are still the primary connected device, numerous others are diminishing the PC’s relevance to the broadband content marketplace. This trend is being fueled by devices such as gaming consoles and blu-ray disc players adding to the number of Internet connected HDTVs -- and direct IP connectivity to a Smart TV set. Strong consumer retail sales in developing categories -- such as tablets and smartphones -- are also impacting the traditional PC’s share of Internet connected devices. By the end of 2013, a shift towards more screen-sharing across devices is expected. Smaller screens such as the smartphone have the greatest reach now with an estimated 133 million users -- with tablets contributing another 31.8 million screens. The development of the shared screen experience, by diverting conte...

While much of the recent market research explores in-home usage of online video from a Smart or Connected TV point of view, today the vast majority of television sets are not enabled for broadband connectivity and internet access. The growth of over-the-top (OTT) video entertainment services, such as Netflix and Hulu, is attracting attention to consumer electronics (CE) products that can support streaming media services -- while connected to a legacy TV set. One of these CE products -- the streaming media player -- has enjoyed significant growth over the past two years. Multimedia Research Group ( MRG ) has released its latest forecast on the worldwide streaming media player market. The upside market potential is significant, as more people seek ways to migrate their online video viewing from their notebook PC to their primary TV set. Streaming media players, sometimes called OTT set-top boxes or digital media adapters, consist of products such as the Apple TV, the WD TV Live, ...

The legacy pay-TV services market can now be divided into two distinct groups. First, those regions where the market is fully saturated and customer churn is the primary activity. Second, the developing nations where local pay-TV providers can still find new customers willing and able to pay for their offerings. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, the global pay-TV market added nearly 47 million new customers in 2012 -- reaching a total of 864 million subscribers. "The growth in satellite, cable, and IPTV markets was strong, although digital terrestrial TV growth was flat in 2012. We expect that the pay-TV market will continue to grow in 2013 to reach 907 million subscribers," said Jake Saunders, VP and practice director at ABI Research . The worldwide IPTV subscriber base has been increasing over the past few years. In 2013, the global IPTV subscriber base is expected to add over 9 million subscribers to reach 79.3 million. More than half of the net...

Despite a seven percent year-over-year dip in global TV shipments, retail sales in North America have been steady and unit shipments were up by almost 3 percent in the third quarter of 2012 -- after posting small declines in the first half of 2012. The trend in the U.S. market has been toward bigger and less expensive TVs, which is expected to be the focus during the holiday season. "Inventory has been building overtime to a level that will satisfy the demand," said Paul Gagnon, director of global TV research at NPD DisplaySearch . The following is a summary of the findings from the latest NPD DisplaySearch market study. Worldwide TV shipments fell on a Y/Y basis for the fourth straight quarter, as demand in Japan and Western Europe fell sharply. TV shipments in Japan were down over 70 percent Y/Y for the second quarter in a row, while Western Europe shipments fell more than 15 percent. Flat panel TV growth in emerging regions were lower than expected, especially in...

Despite the high expectations for the entry of OLED (organic light emitting diode) displays into the television market during 2012, these TV sets will likely now only be available in very small quantities by the end of this year. With 55" OLED TV demonstrations featured at CES in January 2012, commercial products were expected in time for the Olympics in August. But as the year progressed, the possibility of commercialization in 2012 was being questioned -- due to mass production challenges and expected high retail prices. In September, OLED TVs were once again demonstrated at IFA in Berlin, and even at some local retailers, but were still not commercially available. According to the latest market study by NPD DisplaySearch, OLED TV panel makers and set manufacturers are still forecasting that at least 500 OLED TVs will ship in 2012. While this is a very small quantity in comparison to the total TV market, the start of shipments will be an important breakthrough. OLED T...

Infonetics Research released excerpts from two of their latest video entertainment related market studies. Video-on-Demand (VOD) and Encoder Equipment and Video Subscribers -- which tracks equipment sold to telco IPTV, cable video, and satellite video providers. Set-Top Boxes and Subscribers -- which tracks IP, cable, satellite, and hybrid set top boxes (STBs) and over-the-top (OTT) media servers. "Thanks to a 7 percent increase in encoder spending by North American cable and satellite operators, the global video infrastructure market saw a return to growth in the second quarter," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research . The pay-TV market continues to be driven by cable and satellite operators upgrading their encoding infrastructure to support more high-definition (HD) channels and unicast video-on-demand content. Meanwhile, satellite set-top boxes surged in Q2, with global shipments up 20 percent and revenue up 19 per...