Over-the-Top services have grown very popular over the last year and they will only get bigger considering the connectivity of home entertainment and portable CE devices. Based on a recently published study, Convergence in Home Entertainment and Portable CE Markets, IMS Research forecasts that over 2.1 billion connected devices will ship globally. This includes a forecast of 592 million fixed entertainment devices such as TV sets and game consoles, nearly 2 billion portable CE such as smartphones and tablets, and 268 million home network devices such as residential gateways.

IMS Research expects OTT services to be integrated into a multitude of fixed entertainment devices, including TV sets, Blu-ray Disc players, set-top boxes and game consoles. Anna Hunt, principal analyst at IMS Research and report author, states, “More intelligent connected CE products that offer increased processing power present an immense opportunity for OTT service providers. Their eagerness in working with CE suppliers and a variety of platforms outside of the PC creates a challenge for specialized OTT device suppliers, such as Roku and Boxee.” IMS Research expects the global market for OTT boxes to stagnate in 2011 and 2012 due to this competition, and then the market is forecast to slowly decrease to 5 million units shipping in 2015.

IMS Research has recently published a global study on Convergence in Home Entertainment and Portable CE, which offers forecasts for over 24 devices, projects the types of connectivity technologies being integrated into these devices, and examines strategies of service providers. For a complete list of devices included in the projections presented in this press release, please contact IMS Research.