anga_anga 10/05/2014 13:02 Page 7
Streaming Media Players
hold their own
ccording to SNL Kagan MRG,
despite competition from other
streaming devices,
streaming media players
are holding their own.
The firm says the “remarkable” growth of OTT video
services is attracting attention
to consumer electronics products that can efficiently support
streaming media services. One
of these products, the streaming media player, has experienced a significant growth
spurt over the past few years, it
notes.
SNL Kagan MRG’s latest
research - The Streaming
Media Player Market in 2014: Sustained
Consumer Demand, New Vendors, and
Emerging Challenges - shows that worldwide
unit shipments of streaming media players, a
product sometimes called an OTT set-top box
or a digital media adapter, increased by more
than 50% to reach nearly 15 million units in
A
64% US broadband
homes have connected
device
Reserch from Parks Associates
has revealed that 64% of U.S.
broadband households have
at least one consumer electronics device connected to
the Internet, which could
include a smart TV, Blu-ray
player, game console,
set-top box, a digital
media
receiver, or Google
Chromecast.
“The percentage of US
broadband households with
multiple connected CE devices
in use continues to increase,
with game consoles still leading the way,” advised Barbara
Kraus, director of research,
Parks Associates. “Nearly 50
12 ADVANCED-TELEVISION.COM
2013. And while that growth is expected to flatten out over the course of the forecast period,
sustained consumer demand has actually been
surprising.
“While many felt that these products would
be quickly replaced by other consumer electronics devices capable of streaming video such
as smart TVs and Internet-connected Blu-ray
players, the streaming media player market
per cent of US broadband
households connect a game
console to the Internet to
access online content and
applications, while 24 per
cent have a connected smart
TV.”
The research shows 21% of
US broadband households use
a Blu-ray player to connect to
the Internet, 16% connect via
a
streaming media
player, and 5% use Google's
Chromecast device.
Edgeware powers
Vodafone FTTH delivery
Distributed video delivery
specialist Edgeware has confirmed that mobile telco
continues to shrug off such challenges,”
explains senior analyst Mike Paxton. “Low
prices and ease of use have led
to continued consumer
demand with many households enjoying more than one
of these devices.”
While Apple TV remains
the leading streaming media
player product on the market,
approximately 40 different
vendors are currently shipping streaming media player
products. These vendors run
the gamut from consumer
electronics giants such as
Samsung, Sony, and Hisense,
to start-up companies like
Nano Tech and QPlay.
Approximately 90% of all streaming media
player unit shipments occur in North America.
In order for the market segment to continue to
growing, vendors will need to push their products into new markets such as Western Europe
and select countries in Asia.
Vodafone NL has
deployed Edgeware´s
Distributed Video
Delivery Networks (DVDN) Solution to
deliver the Vodafone
Thuis service to its
Dutch
fibre-to-thehome (FTTH) subscribers.
“Edgeware's highly scalable
D-VDN Solution enabled
us to rapidly deploy
advanced video services
over our high speed fibre network,” said Ruud van den
Oosterkamp, IPTV project lead
at Vodafone Netherlands.
Joachim Roos, CEO and
founder of Edgeware
described Vodafone´s multiservice delivery platform as
one of the first examples of
an emerging trend with
mobile operators moving into
the video delivery space. “With
our unified video delivery
solution, we are well positioned to provide the scalabil-
ity and quality of
experience needed
for mobile communication providers
like Vodafone to
deploy successful
next-generation
video
services
over converged networks,” he
declared.
The Edgeware D-VDN
enabled the launch of the
Thuis service over Vodafone´s
own fibre network following
the acquisitio