IPTV subs to reach 68m
March 24, 2010
From Colin Mann at IPTV World Forum in London
IPTV subscriptions are poised to grow from over 30 million in 2010 to 68 million by the end of 2014, according to analyst firm Strategy Analytics, with Asia Pacific and Western Europe leading in deployments.
Although IPTV's future seems promising, Strategy Analytics experts suggest that providers still have substantial work to do. “One constant theme we've seen in our multi-country survey work is a low perceived value-for-money among pay-tv subscribers,” noted David Mercer, Vice-President of the Strategy Analytics Digital Consumer Practice. “Service providers need to concentrate on coherently explaining IPTV's value proposition—something that few have been able to successfully achieve so far.”
IPTV also needs to go beyond simply competing at par with other pay-tv platforms. “Telcos have a deeply-ingrained 'monopoly mindset', “noted Ben Piper, Director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics service. “IPTV represents the first time they have ever been second to market, and building to well-established consumer expectations is no easy task. IPTV needs to do more than replicate what the cable companies are offering. To be successful, it needs to surpass it,” he concluded.