Study: Web Video on TV Up and Coming

The IMS Research study "Market Opportunities for Internet Video to the TV" estimates that 65 million households worldwide had the capability of viewing Internet video on television at the end of 2008. This represents growth of 134 percent over year-end 2007. Households displaying Internet video on the TV set via a game console or proprietary device comprised the vast majority of total Internet TV households in 2007 and 2008. However, it is expected that households using a PC to deliver Internet video to the TV set via a media center PC and a media extender (or digital media adapter) will see an 85 percent CAGR through 2013, reaching nearly 60 million households by that time.

Retail devices such as DTT+IP boxes and Blu-ray players, which incorporate Internet video from an online aggregator, will begin to affect this market by mid-2009. Growth will come from increased consumer awareness of these devices as well as the ability to access multiple aggregators. (Current devices typically allow access to only one or two Web aggregators.) An increased variety of devices facilitating Internet TV is expected as a result from the Intel and Yahoo! Widget Channel venture, the growth of Miniweb Interactive’s platform in the UK, as well as new solutions currently in trials such as Verismo, Sezmi and Zillion TV. IMS Research expects revenues for retail set-top boxes, Blu-ray players with IP connectivity and proprietary Internet TV devices to pass $1 billion worldwide by the end of 2010. Nearly half of this revenue will come from Europe, with the Americas and Asia Pacific regions contributing significantly by the end of 2013.