angacom_anga 28/05/2015 18:14 Page 7
Analyst: Retail OTT STBs to overtake
Telco IPTV
lobal shipments of over-the-top
(OTT) set-top boxes (STBs) sold
at retail - including Apple TV,
Chromecast and Roku boxes — will
overtake shipments of IPTV STBs used
for pay TV services in 2015, according to
a new report from information and
insight source IHS. In 2015, 31 million
retail OTT STBs will be shipped,
compared to 30 million IPTV STBs
shipped by telcos.
“OTT STBs were initially written off as a
temporary measure for consumers to bring
OTT video to TV screens,” said Daniel
Simmons, director of connected home
research at IHS Technology. “It was assumed
that Smart TVs, Blu-Ray disc players and
gaming consoles would eventually take the
G
Set-Top Box Market Monitor report from IHS
Technology, the success of OTT STBs can be
attributed to the content strategies of their
respective vendors. Apple, Google and Roku
have been much more aggressive in adding
new content sources and apps to their STBs
than TV and gaming console vendors have to
their devices. “Ultimately buying a dedicated
box enables viewers to choose the OTT
services they watch on their TV, rather than
simply living with the pre-installed options,”
Simmons said.
Pay-TV operators have also embraced OTT
by deploying their own Internet-connectable
STBs and OTT services designed to compete
with OTT video providers. Operators are
increasingly relying on OTT capabilities in
their STBs to enable catch-up TV, larger video-
“Pay-TV operators have a strong incentive to be the
primary content aggregator in the household.”
place of STB devices; however, while consumer
adoption of smart devices has grown
considerably, OTT STBs have still managed to
flourish.”
Based on the latest information from the
Emerging markets
drive satellite TV
momentum
The number of pay satellite
TV [DBS or DTH] homes will
reach 265 million by 2020,
up from 203m at end-2014
and 143m at end-2010,
according to Global Satellite
TV Forecasts from Digital TV
Research.
Covering 138 countries, the
report estimates that India will
12 ADVANCED-TELEVISION.COM
on-demand (VoD) libraries, as well as search,
recommendation and other content discovery
features. This level of functionality has become
a consumer expectation for pay TV services.
Some Belgacom, Dish Network, Virgin Media
continue to lead the sector,
with 66.9m pay satellite TV
subs in 2020, followed by the
US with 34.1m. Russia (18.5m)
and Brazil (15.3m) will take
third and fourth places
respectively. These four
countries will account for just
over half the global total by
2020.
From the 61.6m pay
satellite TV subscribers to be
added between 2014 and
2020, India will provide
23.5m,
Indonesia
5.0m, Brazil
3.4m and
Russia
2.7m. The
pay satellite
TV subs
total will
more than
double in 41
countries.
However,
pay satellite
and other pay TV operators have even started
providing access to Netflix and other OTT
video providers’ services.
Total shipments of connectable pay-TV
STBs, which include Internet protocol
television (IPTV) STBs, as well as cable TV
STBs and digital terrestrial television (DTT)
satellite STBs, have far outpaced shipments of
OTT STBs. In 2018, connectable pay-TV STB
shipments will grow to 169 million units,
compared to 38 million retail OTT STB
shipments.
As global pay TV markets trend towards
saturation, total pay-TV STB shipments will
decline 5 per cent to 197 million units shipped
between 2014 and 2018, “Connectable pay-TV
STBs will provide an important opportunity
for STB vendors to grow their business,
despite this overall decline,” Simmons said.
“Pay-TV operators have a strong incentive
to be the primary content aggregator in the
household,” Simmons continued. “Given the
rate at which pay TV operators are integrating
OTT services alongside traditional pay TV
features on their STBS, it’s lik