APRIL 9, 2010 -- Market research firm Infonetics Research released the 4Q09 editions of two video-related market share and forecast reports, Video Infrastructure and Subscribers and Set-Top Boxes and Subscribers. The reports show that while overall video infrastructure spending was down in 2008, video-on-demand servers represented one of a few bright spots.
"In the ongoing battle between cable and telco IPTV operators, both continue to spend furiously to add video-on-demand and streaming content server capacity to support the rollout of on-demand HD content and provide start-over and remote storage-digital video recorder services, all of which require the delivery of unicast streams to set-top boxes,” notes Jeff Heynen, Infonetics Research's directing analyst for broadband and video.
“This aggressive move to full unicast models for video delivery is driving strong growth in video-on-demand and streaming content servers,” Heynen added. “While telco, cable, and satellite operators all saw sustained video subscriber growth in 2009, it certainly was not at the growth rates of years past, so operators held off on more significant infrastructure investments, resulting in a down year for video infrastructure overall outside of VOD servers and edge QAMs."
Other highlights from the video infrastructure market report include:
- Worldwide video infrastructure revenue held steady from 3Q09 to 4Q09 at $625 million, with all segments up but one. Upward movers included video on-demand (VOD) and streaming content servers, video encoders, IPTV middleware/content delivery platforms, edge QAMs, digital cable middleware, and satellite video middleware. Those falling included video content protection software.
- For the full year 2009, video infrastructure revenue decreased 11% to $2.5 billion.
- Worldwide video on-demand and streaming content server revenue increased 60% from 2008 to 2009, and is expected to increase rapidly over the next four quarters.
- 3D TV is expected to be popular for particular content, primarily movies and sporting events, but will have little impact on how operators spend to deliver 3D content, except for devices that improve access network bandwidth, such as edge QAMs for cable operators. Of course, set-top boxes and displays will have to include increased processing power to correctly display 3D video, says Infonetics.
- Huawei, generally not known for its video infrastructure outside China, leads the video on-demand and streaming content server market, followed by Cisco.
- There were 417 million cable video subscribers worldwide in 2009. That number is expected to hold steady through at least 2014 as standard cable video subscribers switch over to digital cable video.
Meanwhile, according to the set-top box report:
- Motorola is the worldwide set-top (STB) box market share leader, followed by Cisco and Pace.
- Worldwide total STB revenue grew 7% in the fourth quarter, following a dismal third quarter.
- The number of video subscribers increased across the board in 4Q09, and more existing subscribers also upgraded to premium HD and DVR STBs, a trend likely to continue.
- For the full 2009 year, worldwide STB revenue reached $11.2 billion, down 5% decrease from 2008, as macroeconomic conditions tempered subscriber growth, especially among North American and European cable operators.
- “Measured improvement” is expected for the STB market in 2010.
Infonetics' quarterly video infrastructure report provides worldwide and regional market share, market size, analysis, and forecasts through 2014 for telco IPTV and cable video equipment, including VOD and streaming content servers, video encoders, edge QAMs, IPTV middleware and content delivery platforms, digital cable middleware, satellite video middleware, and video content protection software. The report also provides market size, analysis, and forecasts for telco IPTV, cable video, and satellite video subscribers and operator service revenue.
The company’s quarterly set-top box report provides market size, market share, analysis, and forecasts through 2014 for telco IP STBs (pure IP, hybrid IP/over-the-air, and hybrid IP/QAM STBs), digital and hybrid IP/QAM cable STBs, satellite STBs, DVR STBs, HD STBs, and OTT (over the top) media servers. The report also provides market size, analysis, and forecasts for telco IPTV, cable video, and satellite video subscribers.
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