Video infra markets grows despite challenges

CALIFORNIA, USA: The year 2012 will be a watershed year for TV Everywhere services, as operators across the globe closely watch Comcast, Cablevision and Time Warner Cable to see if adding these services will have a positive impact on subscriber churn and revenue, finds Infonetics Research.

Jeff Heynen, directing analyst, broadband access and video, Infonetics Research, said: "TV Everywhere and other multi-screen video initiatives are fundamentally changing the TV business model, with apps streaming live TV to iPads, and telcos and cable companies offering home automation, security, and video conferencing to subscribers in an effort to make the TV the hub of the digital home."

"Demand for digital, HD, and premium video content and services will continue to drive revenue growth in the VOD and encoder market, but the set-top box market won't fare as well: despite increasing demand, overall STB revenue is expected to decline starting in 2013, due to falling ASPs," Heynen added.

VoD and Encoder Market Highlights

Infonetics forecasts the global video infrastructure market, including IPTV, cable and satellite video infrastructure, to grow nine per cent in 2012, to over $875 million.

Five players hold more than 2/3 of the global VOD and streaming content server market: Huawei, Motorola, Cisco, ZTE, and Concurrent.

Much of the future growth in the video infrastructure market will come from MPEG-4 HD encoders.

China is on pace to outspend all regions on VOD and streaming content server gear as operators including China Telecom and China Unicom add VOD streams.

Infonetics expects the number of IPTV subscribers to more than double from 2012 to 2016, when it will hit 168 million worldwide, with the majority in Asia and Europe.

Set-top-box Market Highlights

Infonetics forecasts the overall set-top box market, including cable, satellite, IP and hybrid IP/DTT STBs, to grow modestly in 2012, to $14.7 billion.

Future STB revenue declines will be offset in part by a shift from cable STBs to hybrid IP/QAM STBs and from satellite STBs to hybrid IP/DVB-S STBs - the fastest growing STB segment.

Motorola maintains its worldwide revenue share lead among set-top box manufacturers, followed very closely by Cisco and Pace.

North America remains the most lucrative market for set-top boxes, with an STB average selling price (ASP) of over $150.