Digital Lifescapes

​Traditional pay-TV service providers in the developed markets have been reacting to ongoing customer churn. Overall growth is now forecast at only 3.7 percent CAGR through 2020, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. In contrast, over-the-top (OTT) video services continue their strong growth, and should experience 26 percent total revenue growth in 2015 -- with a 24 percent CAGR through 2019. With the growing popularity of independent OTT services, such as Netflix and HBO Go, customers are starting to demand a similar experience from their pay-TV subscriptions -- including features such as content search, recommendations and mobile device support. Informed consumers will no longer accept legacy television offerings, as is. The bar of expectations has been raised by the OTT service providers that dared to re-imagine the video entertainment experience. "Comparatively high priced pay-TV bundles are losing customers to more inexpensive, IP-delivered content,...

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...

Following a relatively flat three-year period, the global pay-TV set-top box (STB) market managed to achieve the highest annual revenue total in its history during 2013, setting the stage for continued growth through 2015, according to the latest market study by IHS. Worldwide digital STB shipment revenue last year totaled $20.3 billion -- that's up 3 percent from $19.6 billion in 2012. Revenue will set new highs during the next two years and will peak at $22.8 billion in 2015. This follows the period from 2010 through 2012 when revenue remained in the $19.5 billion range. "Set-top boxes proved to be critical to the strategies of pay-TV operators in 2013," said Daniel Simmons, director for research at IHS . Growth in 2013 was mainly driven by multimedia home gateways (MHG) reaching large scale in North America. MHGs are being used by service providers to transition from a legacy broadcast-based pay-TV experience to one that is Internet-centric and better positio...

While Smart TV set adoption continues to gain momentum around the globe, there is a growing demand for streaming media player devices. Many users of the stand-alone device originally purchased it to connect an older TV to the internet. yet, some still prefer to use the device with their new Smart TVs. According to the latest market study by The Diffusion Group (TDG), 14 percent of broadband households currently use an Internet Set-Top Box (iSTB) -- such as Roku or Apple TV -- to access online over-the-top (OTT) video content on their television set. The demographic mix of early adopters is very broad. Internet set-top box use is especially prominent among Early Millennials (age 25-34) and Late Boomers (age 45-54). As noted in TDG's study findings, 29 percent of adult broadband users are to various degrees likely to purchase a new iSTB in the next six months. Interestingly, 48 percent of current iSTB users are to various degrees likely to purchase another iSTB -- that's ...

No to be confused with the typical 'dumb' set-top box devices used by the legacy pay-TV sector, innovative new devices are being introduced into the global streaming video entertainment marketplace. Creative hardware design and imaginative software user experience enhancements will transform this product category. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, the smart set-top box and dongle market is expected to pass 18 million units in 2013 -- that's higher than originally forecast, due to the arrival of the Google Chromecast. Overall the market is expected to grow with a 10.8 percent CAGR (from 2013 to 2018) with less saturated and developing -- from a new product perspective -- markets like Asia-Pacific and Latin America helping drive this growth. "Despite stiff competition from a range of connected consumer electronics (CE) devices, the smart set-top box and dongle market offers an equally compelling user experience often at significantly lower price...

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...

Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest pay-TV subscribers market study and forecast -- which tracks IPTV, cable, satellite, hybrid set-top boxes (STBs) and over-the-top (OTT) media servers. "Contrary to popular opinion, the set-top box market is alive and well," says Julien Blin, directing analyst for consumer electronics and mobile broadband at Infonetics Research. STB revenue grew almost 10 percent in 2012, and that's a considerable rebound from a year ago. The global market will remain healthy in the near term as operators in China, India, and Latin America add new digital video entertainment services. Video gateways and media players will be the real standouts moving forward, as North American and European cable and satellite providers transition away from digital STBs. Infonetics says that they expect video gateways to grow from just 1 percent of total cable and satellite STB shipments in 2012 to 16 percent by 2017. They also expect to see s...

Infonetics Research released results from their latest market study of the video on demand (VOD) entertainment landscape, which tracks equipment sold to telco IPTV, cable video, and satellite video service providers. Moreover, Infonetics assessed the current pay-TV IP, cable, satellite, and hybrid set-top box (STB) and over-the-top (OTT) media servers market. "Operators are being extremely cautious with their video infrastructure spending right now, looking to sweat their assets as much as they can -- knowing that a spending spree looms on the horizon to support more unicast and multi-screen services, including RS-DVR, start-over, look-back, and streaming delivery to mobile devices," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst at Infonetics Research . Infonetics said that they expect a noticeable increase in video equipment spending during 2013. Clearly, this year will be a challenging one for most pay-TV service providers in the saturated markets -- such as North America and E...

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, ...

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...

The world was a much simpler place for pay-TV providers when all their competitor user interfaces (UI) had the same unintuitive design, set-top box remote controls had dozens of tiny buttons, channel guides were not interactive and nobody cared to change the status-quo of perpetual mediocrity. Then unwelcome outsiders introduced alternative offerings and the bar of UI design expectations was raised off the ground. The result? The legacy pay-TV companies are now struggling to keep up with the superior video experiences enabled by connected TVs, smartphones and media tablets. Their apparent situation, caused by an apathetic slow-moving business model, as well as serving less technically savvy consumers, is exacerbated by suffering a significant hardware disadvantage -- as they typically rely upon cheap set-top boxes that are based upon a 5-7 year-old technology. Meanwhile, the savvy consumers are looking at video content from a much wider selection of choices -- including more c...

The apparent saturation of pay-TV subscribers in North American and Western European markets has troubled set-top box vendors for some time. They have had to look elsewhere for new upside opportunities. As an example, while the number of U.S. households that subscribe to  pay-TV service has remained flat during the last two years, those subscribers who are struggling with economic pressures are more likely to switch providers or totally cancel service, according to a recent report from Leichtman Research Group. As a result, emerging markets have become the new high-growth potential opportunity. However, the emerging market environment is very different from the traditional pay-TV arena. It has economic demands that many mainstream device manufacturers simply can't meet. A jump in cable and satellite set-top box shipments in Asia-Pacific markets is being driven by cable digitization in India and China -- as well as China's roll-out of digital satellite boxes to its ...

Content originally produced for broadcast television has come to the Internet, and the Internet has transitioned to mobile devices. Now the Internet is coming back to TV, and savvy software engineers and smart TV producers are finding ways to create new hybrid services that bring it all together. This is the trend that has many analysts already wondering what will happen next -- how will pay-TV services evolve and which key players in the ecosystem already have a competitive edge? According to the latest market study by NPD In-Stat , they now forecast that 100 million households will actively use a hybrid video entertainment services -- delivered to their TV set -- by 2016. “The next step in the viewing experience will be for TV sets and set-top boxes to permit all of the traditional TV-related services, which is then expanded and enhanced by bringing in content from the Internet, or from Internet-like web services that provide a walled garden of authorized content and on-scree...

The consumer electronics (CE) market was once driven by the ability of devices to provide single functions -- like music playback, video viewing, or basic voice communications. Today, multifaceted intelligent CE devices are increasingly providing several functions and Internet-protocol (IP) network connectivity for online access to information, communications, and multimedia entertainment. This is resulting in the overlap of features and functions between product categories -- not only in the mobile segment, but also in other CE devices like digital HDTVs and set-top boxes. As a result, this entire group is morphing into a larger product category -- often referred to as "smart" devices. These evolved devices are increasingly sharing the same silicon components, operating systems, and application software. There are three leading platforms in the mobile segment -- smartphones, tablets, and notebooks PCs -- and according to the latest study by NPD In-Stat, they now fore...

The adoption of over-the-top video services, such as Netflix and Hulu, has created a increasing demand for wireless connectivity that's built-in to the numerous related consumer electronics (CE) devices that are used within the home. Increasingly, home video entertainment devices such as digital HDTVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, and all versions of pay-TV set-top boxes (STBs) are coming to the market Wi-Fi-enabled -- so that devices can connect to the web and to each other. According to the latest market study by NPD In-Stat, their research shows that the evolution of the home network will drive the number of in-home video WLAN-enabled video devices to approach 600 million in 2015. "Wi-Fi has moved from a nice-to-have feature to a must-have feature as it provides the connectivity necessary to support IP-based video content." says Frank Dickson, Vice President of Research at NPD In-Stat . It's important to note though that Wi-Fi is growing from being simp...

Increasing consumer adoption of new video entertainment formats -- including video-on-demand (VOD) and viewing on media tablets and smartphones -- will cause up to $22 billion (30 percent) of the U.S. pay-TV advertising market to shift to new formats by 2016. Western Europe will see similar shifts in advertising revenue, while the rest of world will lag in its transition of advertising to these new formats. Regardless, the eventual realignment of all marketer's advertising budgets will have a dramatic impact on the legacy ecosystem. "A shift is already underway in the television advertising marketplace from linear ads inserted by a 24-hour schedule to advanced technologies that will increase the effectiveness of advertisers' spending," says Sam Rosen, senior analyst, digital home, at ABI Research . New technologies are achieving scale within broadcasters' advertising systems, notably audience measurement and tracking, targeted advertising, interactive advert...

While some video entertainment industry analysts and consumer electronics pundits are eager to predict a rapid decline of the traditional pay-TV set top box market, others are less sure about the near-term prospects. That being said, a few still see some upside market opportunity within the mainstream pay-TV category. The set top box market actually experienced pockets of growth in 2011, primarily due to robust demand for digital cable set top box products in Asia. In contrast, North American cable set top box unit shipments are decreasing, largely due to the declining number of cable TV subscriber households -- combined with cable TV operators tightening their capital expenditure budgets. According to the latest market study by NPD In-Stat, they report that global digital set top box unit shipments are on track to exceed 55 million, down just 1 percent from 2010 unit shipments. "In-Stat believes that the long-term outlook for the cable set top box market is positive,...

As the year comes to a close, 2011 will be remembered as a difficult time for many players in the video entertainment industry. The growth of online video viewing on-demand, and other significant market transitions, have taken a toll on the pay-TV marketplace. The worldwide satellite set-top box (STB) market has experienced slow to negative growth in recent years as both the number of subscribers and the conversion from SD to HD has changed the market dynamics. That trend is about to change. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , they are forecasting that digital satellite STB unit shipments will grow by nearly 14 percent in 2012. "New technology in many ways is powering the expected uptick in unit shipments," says Michelle Abraham, Research Director at In-Stat. Increasingly powerful processors enable a more personalized viewing experience with downloadable apps and recommendation engines. An improved graphics capability also enhances the user expe...

The pay-TV set top box market is mature -- and has been for some time now. That is to say, it has reached a state of equilibrium. Or put another way, there's an apparent absence of significant new growth. Moreover, some industry analysts might say that meaningful innovation has been missing from this space for a very long time. That’s not to say, however, that there aren’t some segments of the business that are innovating and growing. New In-Stat research has identified the IP set top box market segment as one of the few that is still growing. Based upon the findings of their latest market study, In-Stat is forecasting that worldwide unit shipments will surpass 21 million in 2011. “The recent up-tick in IP set top boxes is a result of Telcos gaining subscribers from cable and satellite providers, as well as replacing the boxes of current subscribers,” says Michelle Abraham, Research Director at In-Stat. Future increases for IP set top box (STB) shipments will lik...

The transition from older-style can-type television channel tuners to silicon TV tuners finally began to occur in 2010. Today, the top TV set manufacturers are actually putting silicon tuners directly on their main TV chassis boards -- and many ODMs are using can-type modules that contain silicon tuners and demodulators. Moreover, new broadcast TV applications are helping to increase demand. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , mobile video services in China, Brazil, and the U.S. are creating new growth markets for all-digital mobile tuners that will drive the value of silicon TV tuner shipments to $750 million in 2015. “Silicon tuners have finally turned the corner in the battle with traditional can-type modules,” says Gerry Kaufhold, Research Director at In-Stat. The major name-brand TV set manufactures have been convinced of the performance, reliability and roadmaps presented by the silicon tuner vendors. An epochal shift away from old-style cans is now ful...