Advanced Television

Viewing behaviour shifts as IPTV gains traction

May 28, 2008

Research from analyst firm Canalys indicates that, while the IPTV market will continue to gather momentum over the next four years, competition from other video delivery platforms will make it increasingly difficult for service providers to convince consumers to invest in services. Established cable, satellite and terrestrial digital TV offerings will continue to develop, and online video services will increasingly compete for viewer attention, making it essential that IPTV providers (and indeed pay-TV operators in general) continue to develop their services in a bid to differentiate them from the competition.

“IPTV growth was strong in 2007, albeit from a relatively small base,” said Canalys senior analyst Adrian Drozd. “The number of worldwide IPTV subscribers increased from under four million at the end of 2006 to over ten million at the end of last year, with annualised subscription revenue closing in on the two billion Euro mark,” Drozd continued. “Solid progress is expected to continue over the next four years. By the end of 2011, Canalys expects the number of IPTV subscribers to have reached 67 million – more than a six-fold increase over 2007 levels.”

EMEA remains the leading region in terms of consumer uptake, accounting for 54 per cent of the worldwide subscriber total at the end of last year. “France is still the driving force in the Western European IPTV market,” explained Drozd, “with France Telecom having passed the one million subscriber mark and both Free Telecom and Neuf Cegetel continuing to expand.”

But rapid growth in the French market has been facilitated by service providers' desire to promote low-cost triple-play bundles, where IPTV is part of the service mix, but not a huge revenue generator in its own right. “While the growth of IPTV in France has dwarfed the progress of most other European countries, it has arguably come at the expense of revenue generation,” Drozd added. “IPTV has helped to attract and retain subscribers, but the emphasis must now shift to revenue generation to justify the significant investments being made in video delivery.”

Outside Europe, progress has also been strong. “Seven IPTV services had more than half a million subscribers each by the end of 2007,” said Drozd. “Verizon has since exceeded the one million mark in the US and PCCW (Hong Kong) is closing in on that milestone.”

But despite early promise, major hurdles remain for the IPTV market. Canalys believes that usurping the role of established cable and satellite digital TV platforms will be a tougher challenge than many in the IPTV industry expect. Convincing consumers to switch pay-TV provider will be both difficult and expensive, unless services are either highly price-competitive or offer considerable benefits over the competition.

“Offering the same content and services as the competition will not provide the necessary returns, but delivering a compelling mix of on-demand and high-definition programming alongside a range of advanced interactive services just might,” Drozd concluded.

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Categories: IPTV, OTT, Research Library