Pay-TV operators worldwide are continuing to invest in advanced STBs, according to research firm Dataxis. As part of its permanent Advanced STB tracker, Dataxis analysed the details of more than 240 deals made by operators worldwide in the last three years.

In terms of figures, APAC and Europe are by far the leaders compared to North America. However, size and value of deals are however more important in North America, and the key operators in the region continue to drive the industry.

Key findings include:

• 4K is becoming more and more a standard feature with 40 per cent of all new deployments, and even more taking into account the recent ones.
• Despite the rise of nPVR in many countries, most STBs include large hard-disk based PVR with multiple tuners.
• OTT integration has become a key issue for all players.
• Android TV is now a major force, especially in some regions, with 30 per cent of all deployments in 2017. The number of deals won does not yet translate into a significant subscriber base using Android TV yet. Dataxis expects a significant ramp up in the years to come, despite the fact that many major pay-TV operators worldwide are not keen to adopt AndroidTV and have decided to go for specific solutions.

Finally, no more than 20 key STBs vendors are capturing the market, using essentially only one major chip supplier, and also less than 10 significant middleware solutions.

Other posts by Colin Mann:

1. Analysis: SVoDs drive $220bn content spend
2. A TikToking clock heading towards regeneration – or not?
3. European pay-radio: Getting ready

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Equipment, In Home, Markets, Pay TV, Research, STB