According to Infonetics Research, a shift by pay TV providers to generic hardware rather than dedicated encoding and transcoding platforms, as well as network functions virtualization (NFV), is exerting downward pressure on video equipment revenue. The research house says the trend is long-term even though service providers are making major purchases of video processing gear for multiscreen and OTT video.
Related findings indicate:
Global broadcast and streaming video equipment revenue decreased 4% to $810 million in the first half of 2014 (1H14), with nearly all product segments down.
Sales of VOD playout servers rose 20% in 1H14 from 2H13 as operators in China and the Middle East continue to drive spending.
Content delivery network (CDN) edge server revenue is forecast to grow at a 14% CAGR from 2013 to 2018, and multiscreen broadcast encoder revenue is expected to grow moderately.
Despite the sluggishness in the first half of the year, Infonetics expects streaming video and broadcast equipment revenue for the full-year 2014 to be up slightly.
