Digital Lifescapes

The digital TV and video entertainment market will expand via online and mobile delivery of new media. This new growth will be driven by network operator owned services, such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), or through Over The Top (OTT) video streaming services such as Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu among others. Meanwhile, traditional pay-TV operators and terrestrial over-the-air TV broadcasters will continue to be disrupted by new digital technologies and new business models. Furthermore, the impact of the ongoing video entertainment transformation could also create new challenges for the Cinema theater sector. According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, ultra high-definition television (UHDTV) streaming video services -- i.e. 4K OTT -- content will start to reach the mainstream market soon, with adoption set to soar over the next 5 years. How Connected TV Fueled the Disruption Note, 4K is a term that was originally used to describe the cinema projection...

Why are traditional pay-TV services being disrupted by alternative lower-cost video entertainment services? Perhaps it's due to the apparent ease-of-use in searching for something to watch. Or, maybe it's the variety of video consumption options, as well as the huge depth of available television series and movie content. Whatever the primary reason, and despite the widespread availability of inexpensive ancillary online video streaming devices, 32 percent of over-the-top (OTT) TV Users still prefer having the native connectivity of a Smart TV set. This finding is according to data from the latest TDG market study, a survey of 2,000 U.S. adult broadband users -- 60 percent of which use an OTT video streaming service on their home television set. Streaming Online Video Device Preference  When asked which TV streaming platform they prefer, 32 percent of OTT TV Users selected their smart TV. Interestingly, this is pretty much equal to the penetration of smart TVs in general...

The American video entertainment realm has continued to evolve during 2015. Market development in the traditional pay-TV sector has been particularly difficult. However, there are still some significant upside opportunities. Baby Boomers comprise nearly a third of U.S. adult broadband users and are significantly more likely than other segments to subscribe to traditional pay-TV services. According to the latest TDG Research study and data-driven analysis of this vital but oft-overlooked consumer segment, this makes them excellent candidates for the high-revenue sales of operator value-added services. As TDG first noted earlier this year, the race-to-the-bottom that currently defines pay-TV operator strategy -- that is, the targeting of Millennials with low-cost bundles -- has deflects marketing resources away from efforts to grow ARPU among other subscribers. "Unlike Millennials, Broadband Boomers are quite loyal to their current operators and have very deep pockets,"...

Consumption of on-demand streaming video continues to grow in American homes, at the expense of broadcast TV viewership. According to the latest market study by Parks Associates, the average U.S. broadband household now watches more than 17 hours of non-linear video per week, compared to 11.5 hours of linear video. The research firm has examined the market for over-the-top (OTT) video entertainment services and streaming media devices and made some assumptions about the key trends shaping consumer demand. "Non-linear video accounts for 49 percent of the video consumed on the TV, and it is already the majority, 60 percent, of TV video viewed by consumers 18-24," said Barbara Kraus, director of research at Parks Associates . Growing consumer demand, alongside new OTT service announcements from HBO and CBS, is driving all players in the video ecosystem to add streaming capabilities to their devices. The negative impact on legacy pay-TV services is likely to be very signifi...

Worldwide ownership of Connected TV Devices -- including smart TVs, smart blu-ray players, IP-enabled game consoles and digital media streamers -- grew 7 percent quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2014 and 34 percent versus the same period in 2013 to reach 500 million units. The growing demand for devices that facilitate the streaming of online video to the large screen TV is creating a highly competitive environment with no fewer than 16 major technology brands accounting for 90 percent of devices in use, according to the latest global market study by Strategy Analytics. Connected TV Devices fulfill a growing consumer desire to access over-the-top (OTT) video content on the big screen within the home. While Game Console vendors and the major TV brands have the largest footprint of such devices, other companies -- such as Apple, Google and Amazon -- are starting to build up a significant base of lower cost media streaming boxes and dongles from which they can tap into the online TV audienc...

To be totally honest, the introduction of 3D television was an anticlimax. Moreover, the initial forecasts for the upcoming adoption of 4K or Ultra-HD video were overly optimistic. While 4K will ultimately reach the mainstream consumer, it will remain a small niche market for at least another five years, with widespread viewing of 4K content arriving around 2019, according to the latest market study by TDG Research.. TDG says that short-term viewership of 4K video will be mostly driven by consumer purchases of new smart TVs with 4K functionality. However, the adoption of 4K televisions will occur more slowly than many believe due to poor consumer awareness, high prices, and lack of 4K video content. That being said, the emergence of 4K-enabled devices will help to fill this gap, over time. For example, TDG predicts that set top boxes (iSTBs) from companies like Amazon, Apple, and Roku will join smart TVs in supporting 4K streaming from over-the-top (OTT) streaming video servi...

  As the CES 2013 event in Las Vegas approaches, let's consider the evolution of video entertainment in the home. Specifically, what are the known market drivers for connecting a television set to the internet? Moreover, what are the usage characteristics for those people that have adopted this practice. Clearly, market adoption has gained momentum in the last year. eMarketer now estimates that usage of connected TVs in American households was up by more than 25 percent in 2012, and will continue to be adopted by more Americans at double-digit rates through at least 2016. By the end of 2013, eMarketer expects 35.1 million U.S. households will have at least one television set connected to the internet, and at least one person in the household will be actively accessing the internet through that TV set on a monthly basis. The current definition of connected TV includes any television set that's connected to the internet -- whether it’s an internet-enabled Smart TV or a ...

I can remember a time when the typical U.S. pay-TV subscriber encountered a reasonable monthly fee for access to the standard tier of channels, and when there were only a couple of additional premium channel options – such as HBO and Showtime. This was before the sports networks gained exclusive access to live sporting events, and before the American sport team owners started to demand huge payments for the broadcast rights to their video entertainment content. I never watched these sports channels and didn’t like the fact that I was being told (by default) to subsidize those pay-TV subscribers that did want to pay the high price. Therefore, I became one of the cable TV cord-cutters – a lost customer to the U.S. pay-TV industry, because a-la-carte channel selection was not an option. So, instead I subscribed to Netflix disc-by-mail service and quickly embraced over-the-top (OTT) video content when it was offered. I’ve since added Vudu to my short list of paid video streaming se...

According to the latest market study by Informa Telecoms & Media, 31 percent of households worldwide will own at least one Smart TV in five years time, with household penetration much higher in North America (63 percent) and Western Europe (64 percent). They now forecast that over 220 million smart TV sets will be sold worldwide in 2017, that's up from the 54 million that have been sold in 2012. However, while smart TV connection rates are rising, they will continue to lag the connection rates of video game consoles and media streaming devices -- such as Apple TV and the Roku streaming player. With their long lifecycles, Informa believes that TVs are likely not the best device to be the hub of the digital home. Instead, smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, media streamers and games consoles, will be the key devices driving the digital home experience. Smartphones in particular, with their short life-cycles and rapidly increasing processor power, will continue to define...

According to the latest market study by Informa Telecoms & Media, the global online video market will reach $37 billion in 2017 -- driven by the growing popularity of over-the-top (OTT) services, such as Netflix and YouTube. This growth is made up of the three key video revenue streams of advertising, subscriptions and transactions. Informa says that while the online video market has matured in 2012, advertising will continue to be a larger revenue generator than paid subscriptions in 2017. In the near-term, online video remains a small, but growing, proportion of total video entertainment revenues. Moreover, Informa estimates that it will only account for 8 percent of revenues by 2017. By the end of the decade, if current growth rates continue, it will account for over 10 percent of revenues. However, its value in the market today is spread among a relatively small group of industry leaders. "It's clear that online video, today, is worth much more than the digita...

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...

By 2017, according to the latest market study by ABI Research, over-the-top (OTT) video entertainment service revenue will quadruple to $32 billion -- that's up from the expected $8.2 billion in 2012. Monthly subscription services, such as Netflix, have led the OTT adoption trend the past couple of years, which has helped push the market towards healthy growth and sustained profit margins. By 2014, however, ABI Research expects OTT on-demand rentals to surpass subscription revenues. The resulting impact on Cinema revenues is unknown at this time -- but we can anticipate a significant change, when more new releases are combined with the growing catalog of prior movies and documentaries. "Connected consumer electronics (CE) and mobile devices continue to push consumer behavior towards newer forms of media distribution like OTT and multi-screen services, said Sam Rosen, practice director at ABI Research . Pay-TV services will continue to thrive, by implementing multi-scre...

Multimedia Research Group, Inc. (MRG) released its comprehensive study of the Multi-platform TV Middleware and Applications ecosystem. According to the findings of their latest market study, pay-TV has been on a collision course with the Internet for more than a decade, but not only has online delivery not yet cannibalized pay TV revenues to any great extent, it also has created a variety of new revenue opportunities for facilities-based service providers. "Generally speaking, consumers are growing to expect the same experience on the TV that they receive from the Internet, and vice versa," said Norm Bogen, MRG VP of Global Research. From the content provider’s perspective, this must be done securely, in ways that respect existing content acquisition and distribution agreements. Enter TV software and the technological advances required to enable new platforms. Key findings from this market study included: The 2010-2014 time-frame is a time of radical change, in w...

Smart set-top boxes that are used for streaming online video often garner less attention than other connected consumer electronics (CE) devices like TVs and game consoles. Apple has referred to its Apple TV device as a hobby -- although it apparently leads the market with around 4 million units shipped through 2011. Roku has also had some success -- passing 2.5M units in 2011. But according to the latest market study by ABI Research , the future outlook is challenging for these dedicated streaming devices, as they attempt to break out of a niche market status. TV sets, game consoles, Blu-ray players, and even mobile devices are quickly conspiring to engender a very competitive market for the digital living room. Even so, streaming digital media set-top box shipments are expected to reach as high as 57 million by 2017. "Google has a split personality in this market," according to Sam Rosen, practice director of TV & video at ABI Research. On the one hand, China,...

Connected TV penetration in North America and Western Europe will surge from just over 10 percent in 2011 to over 50 percent by 2017, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. Blu-ray disc player penetration is expected to have a similar progression, increasing from about 25 percent in Western Europe and North America in 2011 to over 76 percent by 2017 (standalone and game consoles included). Meanwhile, game console penetration rates by 2017 are only expected to pass 61 percent in North America and 46 percent in Western Europe -- with adoption rates significantly lower in other regions. There are four major connected video CE devices: Connected TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles and Smart set-top boxes (STBs). Most CE manufacturers (notably, Samsung and LG) use a common platform for Connected TVs and Blu-ray players. Microsoft and Nintendo play only in the game console market, while Smart STB leaders Apple and Roku don’t compete in the other connected categories. ...

According to the latest market study by DisplaySearch , television set shipments fell almost 8 percent worldwide year-on-year in the first quarter of 2012 -- that's the steepest rate of decline since the second quarter of 2009. Total TV shipments for the quarter were 51 million units. The biggest contributor to the decline was a slowdown in shipments of LCD TVs, which fell year-on-year for the first time in the history of the category -- declining just over 3 percent, to 43 million units. "Soft demand and cautious expectations about the upcoming year in many parts of the TV supply chain have led to a slowdown in shipments," noted Paul Gagnon, NPD DisplaySearch Director of North America TV Research. LCD TV shipment share fell slightly from Q4’11, but is up four percentage points from a year ago, to 84.2 percent. LCD TV is capturing market share at 40” and larger screen sizes because of a sharp decline in plasma TV demand. The average LCD TV screen size increased 5 ...

Connected TV adoption is now accelerating across the globe, and the upside opportunities for Smart TV app development will follow this trend. According to the latest market study by NPD DisplaySearch, over one-quarter of TVs shipped during the first quarter (Q1) 2012 were equipped with broadband internet connectivity. Approximately 27 percent of TV sets shipped worldwide had internet connectivity -- led by Japan, where 46 percent of sets had broadband networking capability built-in, and Western Europe with 36 percent. A good example of how online video entertainment has already evolved is to observe the results in emerging markets. China has followed closely behind Western Europe -- with 32 percent of the TV sets that shipped now have internet functionality. NPD DisplaySearch has analyzed TV sets by service type -- which further demonstrates that this trend is a global phenomenon. Basic connected TVs can access structured services from broadcasters such as Hbb.TV in Europe, BBC...