The Asia-Pacific region was the largest market for set-top boxes in 2014, accounting for a market share of around 31%, the research house says. Asia Pacific is also expected to be the fastest-growing market for set-top boxes, at an estimated CAGR of 9.9% during the forecast period. Due to rapid digitization switchover and a large pay TV subscriber base, the set-top boxes market in Asia Pacific is expected to grow significantly during the coming years. North America is a mature market in terms of the adoption of set-top boxes due to early digitization switchover. The growth of the overall set-top boxes market in North America is expected to be driven by the adoption of IPTV and HBB set-top boxes during the coming years.
Among the set-top box types, cable set-top boxes held the largest share of around 34% in 2014, globally. A significant portion of pay TV operators are using cable set-top boxes as most countries are currently in the process of the digitization switchover. During the forecast period, the market for IPTV set-top boxes is expected to expand at a CAGR of 10.7%. This growth is anticipated to be driven by its adoption among pay TV operators due to a rise in Internet video traffic and the growing use of mobile TV. Hybrid broadcast broadband (HBB) set-top boxes are increasingly finding adoption in North America and Europe, as they offer combined IPTV services and cable or satellite TV services. Furthermore, HBB set-top boxes enable content to be distributed in multi-room TV networks, personal computers, and mobile devices.
In terms of video quality, the HD set-top box was the largest segment of the set-top boxes market, accounting for approximately 66% of the total market in 2014. During the coming years, the adoption of HD set-top boxes is expected to increase further due to a growth in demand for high-quality video formats such as 4K and 8K. The increasing adoption of HD broadcasting content by pay TV operators is also expected to aid the growth of the HD set-top box market in coming years.
HUMAX Electronics, Technicolor, Samsung Electronics, ARRIS, and EchoStar are major players providing different types of set-top boxes to pay TV operators. The market is also witnessing major merger and acquisition activities; for example, in July, Technicolor announced the acquisition of the set-top box business of Cisco.