Digital Lifescapes

The video entertainment industry has experienced many changes during the last decade, but few were as dramatic as the shift in global pay-TV growth prospects. While many developed nations reached market saturation, emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region assumed the market development leadership position. Pay-TV subscriptions for 338 operators across 89 countries will increase by 200 million from a collective 704 million in 2014 to 904 million by 2020, according to the latest worldwide market study by Digital TV Research . That being said, China Radio & TV is the world's largest pay-TV operator, by a wide margin. Chinese government policy to consolidate cable TV means that China Radio & TV quickly became the world's largest pay-TV operator -- with 198 million subscribers by the end of 2014. They will soon represent every cable TV home in China, with a forecast 252 million subscribers expected by 2020 -- that's an upside increase of nearly 54 million compar...

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...

As consumer electronics and video entertainment industry analysts are preparing to descend upon Las Vegas once again, to attend the International CES next week, perhaps now is the perfect time to consider the outlook for the evolving pay-TV sector. Infonetics Research has released excerpts from its latest global market study and associated report, which tracks pay-TV subscribers and video equipment sold to telco IPTV, cable and satellite television service providers. "Pay-TV providers are sweating their existing encoding assets as they wait for the next generation of platforms that support HEVC (high efficiency video coding) so they can reduce current bandwidth requirements while preparing for ultra-definition TV, such as 4K," said Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay-TV at Infonetics Research . According to the Infonetics global market assessment, demand for contribution encoders among broadcasters will remain steady through 2017, with increases ...

The shift of video consumption to tablets and smartphones is causing pay-TV service provider requirements for video on demand (VOD) systems to change as vendors struggle to keep up with current generation needs, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. A case in point, I previously shared my own use case that demonstrated how I discovered that the HBO GO internet video streaming service had significantly more content in their archive than the HBO VOD offering from Time Warner Cable. ABI belives that equipment and system vendors, such as Arris (now including Motorola Home), SeaChange, Cisco, and Ericsson are expected to lose ground to cloud-oriented companies -- such as thePlatform, Synacor, and KIT Digital (expected to emerge from bankruptcy as Piksel). VOD vendors will see less than 30 percent growth over the next five years, while content management system (CMS) vendors will capture the market and see nearly 100 percent growth to seize half of the total VOD manage...

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...

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...

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...

According to The NPD Group, although viewing movies through new low-cost Internet video on demand (iVOD) subscription services is making significant inroads with a savvy group of informed Americans, legacy cable TV companies are still the first choice for on-demand per-use movie rentals. Led by Comcast in the first half of 2012, 48 percent of all paid video-on-demand (VOD) movie rentals were generated from traditional cable TV service providers. With a 24 percent rental-order growth rate year-over-year, telco VOD is the fastest growing segment of the VOD market, outpacing even the iVOD growth rate of 15 percent. Note, the NPD research refers only to movie rentals that are paid for upon rental -- subscription video rentals and video purchases were not included in this market study. "When it comes to paying for on-demand movies on an a-la-carte basis, cable companies are by far the primary conduit, due in large part to their widespread penetration and usage in Americans’ ...

I've previously reported on the apparent lack of substantive innovation within IP-based television offerings -- essentially how most have merely attempted to emulate the legacy capabilities of linear broadcast TV. There's been some signs of new progress, but the inherent attributes of IPTV technology have barely been explored, so far. Infonetics Research just released excerpts from its "2012 IPTV Service Deployment Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey" report. Their latest worldwide market study is focused on video entertainment service providers that are currently providing IPTV services. These incumbent video entertainment companies were interviewed by Infonetics to assess their needs and to analyze trends in the IPTV marketplace. "Because it's so challenging to differentiate on content, pay-TV providers are looking to stand out from their competitors by offering additional services and features -- such as multi-screen viewing, social networking...

Infonetics Research released excerpts from two recently published video equipment market share and forecast reports. These latest market studies demonstrate how video entertainment applications demand is impacting broadband service provider (SP) infrastructure investment decisions. That being said, most of the growth will come from online video streaming apps, not traditional pay-TV. The first report, Video-on-Demand (VOD) and Encoder Equipment and Video Subscribers -- which tracks video equipment sold to telco IPTV, cable video, and satellite video providers. And the second report, Set-Top Boxes and Subscribers -- which tracks IP, cable, satellite hybrid, DVR, and high definition (HD) STBs, as well as over-the-top (OTT) media servers. "Two of the most interesting trends in the video equipment and set-top box markets are 1) across the board, pay-TV operators continue to increase their investments in MPEG-4 encoders to reduce bandwidth requirements for their broadcast channels ...

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...

Internet-enabled consumer electronics (CE) in the home -- including Smart TVs, Blu-Ray disc players, game consoles, and streaming media players -- continue to grow their market share and now benefit from increased adoption by Americans. Already about 17 million U.S. households currently own a connected TV, and ownership of streaming media players has nearly doubled since the end of 2010. Yet only a fraction of consumers that own an Internet-capable TV device actually connects it to the Internet to become over-the-top (OTT) video consumers. Despite this hurdle, the growing base of OTT video-capable U.S. households is propelling the revenue for online video-on-demand (VoD) and electronic sell through (EST) to double by 2015, according to the latest market study by NPD In-Stat . "OTT video is continuing to grow, overcoming the barriers of low device connect rates and cumbersome user interfaces," says Keith Nissen, Research Director at NPD In-Stat. Even stronger growth ...

The global IPTV market will grow to $49 billion in service revenues and 113 million subscribers in 2015 -- as multiscreen video usage drives wireless services to new highs. According to the latest market study by MRG , systems revenue for the seven key IPTV products analyzed will grow to $4.8 billion in 2015, with set-top boxes (STB) representing about 60 percent. As consumers add Wi-Fi for using smart devices within their homes, market growth continues largely due to trends toward the mobile lifestyle habits of 18-55-year-olds. Based on semiannual updates of major global Operators and their differentiating services and updated subscriber counts, Europe remains ahead of Asia by 2015 in IPTV subscribers -- partially due to continued regulatory confusion in Asia. By 2015 worldwide, at least 25 IPTV Operators will have over 1 million subscribers, with 9 having over 3 million, the U.S. having 2 Operators with over 7.5 million each and Europe having 12 IPTV Operators wit...

The volatile pay-TV industry is going through a period of transition, as low-cost video entertainment services gain new subscribers -- and thereby further fragment the global markets. As a result, traditional pay-TV service providers are evolving their offerings, which directly impacts their systems and CPE device suppliers. Infonetics Research released excerpts from its first quarter 2011 (1Q11) Cable, Satellite, IPTV, and Over-the-Top (OTT) Set-Top Boxes and subscribers market share and forecast report. "Despite a quarter-over-quarter decline in the global set-top box market, all major segments are up from this time a year ago in both revenue and shipments, indicating that the pay-TV market is rebounding after two years of significant declines," said Teresa Mastrangelo, directing analyst for video at Infonetics Research. In 1Q11, evidence continued to mount that pay-TV service providers are in the early stages of implementing hybrid IP networks that off...

Last year, in the fall, the U.S. cable TV service providers decided to work together -- in an unprecedented collaboration effort -- to promote their collective Video-on-Demand (VoD) offerings. They agreed to invest $30 million in an advertising campaign, and they created a dedicated web site (which is now redirected to a Facebook page). If there was increasing pay-TV subscriber interest in their offering, then they would have increased their share of the growing on-demand video market. So, what was the outcome? Across the whole U.S. market, to date about 10,000 people say they "like" the Movies on Demand brand. Clearly, this experiment demonstrates that the traditional pay-TV sector has a very tough road ahead -- as more and more people's video entertainment needs shift away from the channel-centric pay-TV model. Infonetics Research earlier this month released its fourth quarter 2010 (4Q10) Cable, Satellite, and IPTV Video Infrastructure and Subscribers market sha...

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...

eMarketer reports that Americans are viewing movies online more frequently, increasingly adopting low-cost over-the-top (OTT) pay-TV subscription services, such as Netflix. Moreover, online viewing of full-length TV episodes is on the rise and accounting for a greater share of consumer attention. With these changes in video entertainment viewing habits, mainstream consumers will increasingly look to enjoy these new experiences on a big TV screen. Two recent forecasts project a dramatic growth in sales of internet-enabled television sets around the world. iSuppli Corporation estimated in July that 28 million web-enabled TVs would be sold worldwide this year -- more than double the sales in 2009. By 2014 they're forecasting a 428.6 percent increase to 148 million units sold. DisplaySearch has a higher estimate of connected TV sales for 2010, at 45 million units worldwide, and a more conservative projection for 2014 at 119 million units. However, that still translates to growt...

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-...

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...

Revenue from mobile video services is expected to top $2 billion worldwide in 2013, according to the latest market study by ABI Research . Video services included in this forecast are video telephony, video messaging, video sharing, video-on-demand, VoD downloads, and other related video services. "Video services revenue will only amount to about $121 million this year," says senior analyst Mark Beccue. "But the growth curve is very steep indeed, and will only continue to accelerate through the end of our forecast period in 2015." Video sharing will be a small portion of this revenue while video telephony, video messaging and video-on-demand applications will account for the majority of the market share. Consumer appetite for mobile infotainment, sparked by the availability of 3G networks, is one of the main drivers for this market. This demand will only increase as Mobile Network Operators (MNO) move to 4G. At the same time, the proliferation of connected m...