Ultra-HD (4K TV) will be mass-market proposition in next four to five years

PARIS, FRANCE: A new report from Dataxis forecasts that global shipments of 4K TV sets will surpass 5 percent of the total annual TV shipments in 2017, while the installed base of 4K TV sets in Europe, North America and mature Asian markets, such as Japan and South Korea, will also reach 5 percent in 2018.

The plethora of 4K TV screens already available from different vendors - with increasing focus on 55-65 inch displays and cheaper price points - is creating consumer demand and driving 4K TV sales as existing flat screen and HD displays are replaced.

The report, 4K TV Market and Forecasts (2013-2018), estimates there will be 2.2 million 4K TV households at the end of 2013, rising to 66.2 million by end-2018. Sales of cheaper, domestic 4K TV sets in China will also help push the Asia Pacific region to become the single largest market for 4K TV by 2016 - accounting for 42 percent of global 4K TV households.

"The recent standardization of HEVC/H.265 will improve video quality and double the data compression ratio compared to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, making it possible to offer native 4K TV content across all TV access platforms," says Gavin Patterson, Research director at Dataxis. "Pay-TV companies are most likely to invest heavily in 4K TV so they can compete against OTA broadcasts and OTT services, with the battle for dominance likely to be reignited between satellite and cable operators."

However, Dataxis claims that only 58 percent of households with a 4K TV set end-2018 will have the potential to access native 4K TV programming from their TV providers - equivalent to 38.16 million households.

"The first generation of 4K TV set owners will have to rely on media players, games consoles, and compressed download systems to view 4K content, although many channels have already started running their own 4K TV trials to launch programming around the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics," says Patterson.