Pay TV Middleware: Shifting Sands

According to Frost & Sullivan, the pay TV middleware market is changing under the pressure of multiscreen uptake and OTT competition. The research house expects the market to move toward more agile open source middleware to stay competitive. Frost & Sullivan says the market earned revenues of $1.05 billion in 2014 and expects it to reach $2.03 billion by 2020.

"Pay TV middleware vendors will need to be extremely nimble and focus on providing agile solutions that allow service providers to compete with OTT services," wrote Frost & Sullivan Digital Media Industry Analyst Hiral Jasani. "They must direct attention towards open source middleware, as this has proven to be a successful strategy for middleware vendors and operators alike."

Currently, the global pay TV middleware market remains fragmented, the research house says, with pay TV infrastructure vendors and end-to-end turnkey solution providers dominating market share. Heavy commoditization of set-top boxes characterizes the market and continues to exert downward price pressure on pure-play middleware vendors.