Research and Markets has announced the addition of Market Positioning and Operator Strategies for IPTV: A Global Overview from Pyramid Research to their offering. Telcos are increasingly positioning their IPTV services as part of bundled broadband packages, and the services are gaining subscribers at a rapid pace. At year-end 2007, the global IPTV subscriber base reached 16m clients and is expected to grow five-fold in the next four years. Although regulations (such as those in China or Brazil) have played a role in limiting the scope of IPTV portfolios, it is the marketing strategy employed by each telco that is determining the pace of IPTV development in each market.

According to the newest edition of TV Markets Quarterly Monitoring from InfoCom, during 2Q07, most of the television viewers in Western Europe still prefer receiving television service over terrestrial platform. Viewing programmes using this platform does not cost as much as rival platforms. In Greece, Italy, Spain, France, the UK, Portugal and Finland, terrestrial or free-to-air TV viewers represent between 51% and 91% of the total TV market as of 1H07, according to InfoCom.

WebsEdge has outlined upcoming key industry milestones that will drive the uptake of IPTV across America during 2008. There are three key elements surrounding the provision of IPTV to consumers, companies, and organizations throughout the United States: the capacity and speed of the network to individual premises, relevant and quality content to be viewed and a functional online source for viewers to access the video content.

The following are the areas that will see the most change over the course of 2008:

Early attempts to bring networked video to consumers’ television screens have fallen far short of success, but that may change soon with the arrival of new vertically integrated solutions and business models, according to a recent study from ABI Research. Thus far, initial product offerings have been centered on a computing and home networking model; but vendors are learning that they need to provide end-to-end solutions in order to attract new consumers.

It appears the French like IPTV just about as much as their wine. In a new report "Top Ten: IPTV Carriers" by Light Reading, France is claiming 3 of the top ten positions. The report is based on the world's leading telco IPTV players by number of subscribers.

"France isn't the only European nation to grace the list -- in fact, Europe provides a whopping seven of the leading 10 IPTV players currently, with representatives from Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Sweden also making the cut. The remaining three entries come from Asia/Pacific, with North America failing to pitch in."

Research and Markets has announced the addition of “IPTV Test, Measurement & Monitoring” to their offering. Because high content quality and bandwidth management are so important to IPTV Service Providers intent on capturing and keeping subscribers, the Test, Measurement and Monitoring market is becoming a major focus of attention and innovation.

As a follow-up to the IPTV Video Quality report published by MRG earlier in 2007, this report provides an in-depth analysis of the emerging IPTV TM&M category of technologies and products.

Recent research conducted by Ipsos Media among U.S. online adults hints that future growth in online video services may be predicated more on downloading models than on streaming models - and potentially more on free ad-based content than on paid content - particularly as younger consumers spend an increasing amount of their disposable time online. As part of a wider survey of online adults on technology and media trends, consumers were asked to rate their overall preference for a variety of online video service models if they were going to use them to view their "favorite TV shows." The service models tested included streaming-only and downloading-only versions of both fee-based video services and free, ad-subsidized versions. Two very interesting stories emerged. First, the results clearly illustrate the consumer appetite for free, ad-subsidized online video services, in this case specifically for television programming. In addition, the data also articulates a division in preference among younger and older consumers in general: younger consumers - those ages 18 to 34 - prefer downloading longer form television programming online, while consumers 35 and older have a greater affinity for streaming television programming content.

IPTV Test, Measurement & Monitoring Report helps simplify the pursuit of Video Quality, Quality of Service and Quality of Experience as they relate to the design and operation of IPTV services. Created primarily for IPTV Operators, Technical Specialists and TM&M Vendors, this report goes far beyond what has been traditionally covered in Video Quality Control, Quality Assurance and Quality of Experience.

Based on analysis of best practices of over 30 vendors and service providers, the report illustrates how Operators are actually using TM&M to improve customer retention and scale quickly to new subscriber bases. "Even a small TM&M budget of $3-$6 per sub per year is likely to return many times that investment in customer retention or added revenues," states Gary Schultz, MRG's CEO.

Broadband access in the Asia-Pacific region has experienced significant growth in the past decade, as operators have upgraded their networks in anticipation of future demand for high-bandwidth services. In a new study focused on residential FTTH in APAC, ABI Research finds that different markets within the region are currently in very different stages of broadband growth.

“While broadband adoption is increasing within APAC, growth is not homogeneous across all countries in the region,” says research analyst Serene Fong. “For instance, Hong Kong is one of the early adopters of FTTH and has the largest FTTH household penetration, currently 21%. On the other hand, countries such as China and India are still struggling to encourage greater broadband usage.” For now, most FTTH activity is still in the more developed countries within the region: Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.

The power of producing and distributing content no longer belongs solely to studios and technology vendors it has shifted to the consumer and consumer communities that produce, utilize and interact with the large volumes of content available today.

Analysts predict around 50 million IPTV subscribers worldwide by 2010. As viewing habits evolve from a passive consumption of TV to an interactive user experience, IPTV service providers need to quickly recognize and exploit the market opportunities that lie ahead.

After a 32% jump in sales in the second quarter, worldwide IPTV equipment sales hit $682.5 million in the third quarter of 2007, up 23% sequentially, according to Infonetics Research's quarterly IPTV Equipment, Services, Subscribers, and Capex report.

Likewise, manufacturers of IP STBs saw revenue jump 35% worldwide in 3Q07 from 2Q07, the report shows.

Other highlights from the report:

• Growth in worldwide service provider revenue from IPTV services is expected to grow more than 10-fold in the 5 years between 2006 and 2010
• Worldwide IPTV middleware revenue is up 1% in 3Q07 from 2Q07
• Motorola leads in the worldwide pure IP STB and hybrid IP/QAM STB markets in 3Q07; Dasan Networks leads the hybrid IP/over-the-air STB market
• 51% of worldwide IPTV equipment revenue in 3Q07 comes from Asia Pacific, 33% from EMEA, 16% from North America, and 1% from CALA

A new breed of retail-based Internet video delivery devices has emerged over the past few years, the most notable being Apple TV. However ABI Research notes that these devices have had difficulty resonating with consumers, largely due to their higher prices and competition from legacy set-top boxes, as well as confusion over the benefits they will ultimately bring to the buyer. Overall, ABI Research believes that this new breed of devices will see shipments of 1.2 million in 2008.

The status of the STB within pay-TV households faces significant risk from the development of two-way, digital-cable–ready TVs, media centers, and residential gateways, among others. And STB manufacturers are responding in several ways.

STB manufacturers are adding new features, such as increased hard-disk space, DVD players, DVD burners, and home-audio solutions, which will better align STB functionality with consumer demands. Manufacturers also are attempting to improve electronic program guides and to incorporate more video gaming and Web-based services.

Dell’Oro Group reports that the worldwide set-top box market contracted 2 percent on a sequential basis in the third quarter of this year, despite strong growth in the IPTV and satellite set-top box market that was not enough to offset the decline in the cable market.

“Cable operators slowed their acquisition of set-top boxes in the third quarter after having accelerated purchases of mostly standard definition set-tops in the first half of 2007 when they were striving to convert analog subscribers to digital services before the FCC’s July 1st deadline that required that set-top boxes contain separate security modules,” commented Greg Collins, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “Because cable operators increased their purchases of set-tops ahead of demand, thereby building inventory, they had much less of a need to purchase new set-tops in 3Q07,” added Collins.

The market research report “Global IPTV: Market Analysis and Forecast to 2011” evaluates the current market trends of IPTV technology. It provides extensive research and objective analysis of the global IPTV market, its performance and its future prospects by analyzing the trends and developments in IPTV market across different geographies, including Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific Regions.

The report is a work of thorough research on the global IPTV industry and examines global as well as regional IPTV subscriber base, service revenue, ARPU, broadband subscribers, and IPTV households among other market elements.