Gartner predicts IPTV boon

 

Gallery

By Reuters

Posted on 25 Sep 2008 at 18:07

Worldwide subscriptions to internet-based television platforms are on track to reach 19.6 million subscribers in 2008, a 64% increase according to analysts at Gartner.

Revenue from worldwide IPTV is forecast to reach $4.5 billion (£2.42 billion), up 93.5% from a year earlier, with Western Europe boasting the largest number of IPTV subscribers and North America the largest market for IPTV revenue.

It forecast that 1.1% of households worldwide would be using IPTV in 2008, and expects that to rise to 2.8% by 2012.

"The biggest change since 2007 is the rapid advent of new entrants making inroads in consumer video consumption and placing greater demands on IPTV operators to innovate," claims Gartner research director Elroy Jopling.

"Before 2008, the IPTV operators' emphasis had been to spread their footprint and effectively provide a 'me too' solution to cable and satellite," says Jopling. "In the future, especially in the developed markets, we will see an emphasis on innovation and differentiated pay-TV services."

Gartner defines IPTV as a managed broadband network which delivers high picture-quality television and video content to a user's TV set via a set-top box.