Digital Lifescapes

Digital ticketing adoption is growing in two core areas -- Mobile ticketing and Online ticketing. A mobile ticketing user is someone who either purchases and/or stores a ticket using their mobile handset for later redemption, at the point of travel, the event venue, the cinema, etc. In contrast, an online ticketing user is typically someone who purchases a ticket online via any Internet-connected device, thereby avoiding the conventional offline ticket purchase process. Digital Ticketing Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, users of mobile ticketing will total 1.9 billion by 2023, up from 1.1 billion in 2019. In comparison, the total number of digital ticketing users across mobile, online and wearable channels will reach 2.2 billion by 2023. According to the Juniper assessment, mobile ticketing has become a primary driver of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) -- which is considered as the future of urban transportation-related mobilit...

Digital TV and online video has seen the battle between Over the Top (OTT) providers and traditional television networks pushed to the forefront. In order to differentiate themselves, and reduce the need to rely on expensive content partnerships, OTTs will produce more of their own entertainment content. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) services -- from leading providers such as Netflix and Amazon -- will drive a surge in OTT revenues to reach $120 billion in 2022, and that's up from $64 billion in 2017. In this environment, the traditional expensive bundle of pay-TV services will surely continue their decline. Original Content Market Development The upside market opportunity for the innovative low-cost video entertainment providers is significant. The in-depth market research also uncovered that over a quarter of global households will eventually subscribe to SVOD services by 2022. The new research foun...

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...

As the potential for smart wearable devices continues to draw new entrants into the market, it is the sports and healthcare functionality that seems to dominate shipments and drives future wearable device adoption. Today, the most popular device functionality is heart rate monitoring with close to 12 million devices shipped in 2013, according to the findings from the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. These are primarily single function devices that communicate with nearby hubs such as smartphones or activity sports watches. Pedometers and activity trackers were the next two most popular devices, accounting for around 16 million devices combined in 2013. "The market for wearable computing devices is driven by a growing range of wireless connected wearable sports, fitness and well-being devices," said Jonathan Collins, principal analyst at ABI Research. Heart rate and activity monitors will outpace shipments of smart watches and glasses for some years to ...

Smart wearable devices were characterized as 'cool' technology by the introduction of the Google Glass collection, but commercial success will come slowly to this nascent product category. Granted, wearable technology will be defined by the diversity of creative new products -- yet it's likely that only the devices with a crystal clear use-case will succeed in the marketplace. ABI Research forecasts the wearable device sales volumes in 2014 will come from healthcare and sports and activity trackers. Meanwhile, the commercial launch of several smart glass products, including Google Glass, will continue to drive interest in the wearable space. But it won't be a significant commercial success in 2014. "The next twelve months will be a critical period for the acceptance and adoption of wearable devices," says Joshua Flood, senior analyst at ABI Research . Healthcare and sports related devices are conceptually mass-market products. However, wearable devices l...

Wearable devices have been in existence for a number of decades, but it's only recently that they have captured the imagination of the general public. Juniper Research has revealed that the retail revenue from smart wearable devices -- including smart watches and glasses -- will reach $19 billion by 2018 compared with $1.4 billion this year. Moreover, revenues will be driven by high price points for these devices allied to their anticipated strong market demand. Based on the findings from its latest market study, Juniper has revised upwards the adoption of devices in the two key segments of consumer electronics ‘Multimedia & Entertainment’, and ‘Multi-functional’ devices. Revisions such as these are common in the early years of a new technology category, and reflect the latest announcements from vendors across the sector. "It is worth observing that this change in adoption levels can also be attributable to heightened consumer awareness of wearable technology and a...

Demand for wearable computing devices are forecast to grow rapidly over the next year. With a wave of new gadgets set to reach the consumer electronics market, it's very possible that this technology could become commonplace within five years. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, they now forecast that the wearable computing device market will grow to 485 million annual device shipments by 2018. Currently, sports and activity trackers account for the vast majority of wearable technologies shipped. Smart activity trackers are widely available, and this device's trendy and stylish appearance makes them very popular with a broad range of customers. It's estimated that 61 percent of the wearable technologies market is attributed to sport or activity related trackers in 2013. Smartphone compatible watches are beginning to emerge, and it has been reported that Apple may have plans to release a smart watch some time this year. Furthermore, it has been ...

According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, the next generation wearable devices market will be worth more than $1.5 billion by 2014 -- that's up from just $800 million this year. Juniper says that these wearable device revenues will be largely driven by consumer spending on fitness, multi-functional devices, and healthcare applications. Classified as a future form-factor for computing devices, next generation wearables -- including smart glasses and other head-mounted displays -- will provide a multitude of functions either independently or in conjunction with a third party platform. Juniper identifies 2014 to be the watershed year for wearable devices -- in terms of roll outs and market traction. Large influential players such as Google and Apple have already made key strategic moves in this sector. The use of wearable devices connected to a smartphone in the fitness and sports environment has grown rapidly in the last two years with applications such as Nik...

The primary London 2012 Olympic games are over, but they're clearly not forgotten. Several market studies highlighted the multi-platform or multi-device media consumption trends. There were some interesting regional variations within the market study findings. As an example, according to a pre-Olympics market study by Ipsos , while 65 percent of survey respondents say they would be watching the competition on TV, 23 percent were rooting for their countries via the Internet -- a number that swells to 34 percent in APAC countries and 43 percent in BRIC countries. Six percent of people said they would watch at least part of the Olympics on mobile devices and 4 percent intended to watch on their media tablets. Ipsos said that they expected these results to rise as people become more comfortable viewing smaller screens and choose to watch in real-time, rather than coming home to hours and hours of recorded video. In fact, 20 percent -- 31 percent in APAC countries and 37 perc...

comScore released the results of a U.S. market study of digital media usage related to the 2012 NCAA Tournament. The study, which analyzed browser-based (i.e. non-app) page views to the Sports content category, showed that sports fans increased their access across all three primary screens for web content -- PC, media tablet and smartphone -- as they followed the game results. “The NCAA Tournament, like the Super Bowl or the Olympics, is one of those events where sports fans don’t want to miss a beat of the action -- especially if they can’t be in front of a TV,” said Debbie Bradley, Sr. Director at comScore . Given the emphasis large advertisers place on these sporting events, it’s important to consider how all media channels can be leveraged to maximize a brand's awareness and its communication with the consumer. As part of the study, comScore analyzed computer vs. non-computer traffic (predominantly smartphones and media tablets) for the Thursday and Friday of the NCAA tou...

Mobile device apps adoption has created many new business opportunities for software developers with unique domain expertise. A case in point is the sports and health related mobile application market. Together they will grow to over $400 million in 2016 -- up from just $120 million in 2010. Much of that growth will be spurred by the ability of mobile handsets to easily connect to wearable devices that in turn can deliver new functionality, accuracy, and appeal to sports and fitness applications. As the mobile handset adds new ways to access and support healthcare applications, it will become increasingly important within the healthcare market -- including home monitoring systems for aging users, personal emergency response services, and remote healthcare monitoring applications. However, sports and fitness will dominate the mobile health application market. "Downloadable apps are moving the sports tracking device market from proprietary devices to mobile phones, b...

Preparations for the London 2012 Olympics includes plans for broadband infrastructure upgrades across the UK. Coverage of the sporting events will create a multitude of digital media content, but the ultimate legacy will be a platform for long-term socioeconomic development within the nation. Point Topic predicts there will be over 10.5 million superfast broadband lines in Britain within the next five years. With another 4.6 million cable broadband connections this means that almost 60 percent of broadband customers -- and more than half of all homes and businesses -- will be using superfast speeds of 30 megabits or more by the end of 2016. "It's still a risky and controversial forecast," says Tim Johnson, Chief Analyst at Point Topic. "It is always difficult to predict something which is expected to grow so fast. If the forecast is correct, the number of superfast lines will grow 50 times over between mid-2011 and the end of 2016." But there's unce...

The early expectations of 3D TV were clearly exaggerated, while current press coverage laments the fact that 3D television has not lived up to its promise. The reality is somewhere between the two extremes. 3D channels have been launched in North America, Europe, and Asia in 2010. More will come in 2011. In addition to linear TV channels, 3D content is being made widely available on pay-TV providers VOD systems. Those who are experimenting with 3D VOD now are expected to make linear 3D channels available as well. The result is an anticipated increase in the number of 3D TV channels to over 100 by 2015, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "Pay-TV providers around the globe who have HD systems in place have jumped on the 3D content being made available to them at a faster rate than many had expected," says Michelle Abraham, Principal Analyst at In-Stat. Many took advantage of the World Cup 3D coverage to test transmission of 3D over their networks, and som...