Researcher forecasts slowing IPTV, switched digital video equipment market

The IPTV and switched digital video (SDV) equipment market increased 6 percent sequentially in third quarter of last year to $1.4 billion, according to a report released last month from research firm Infonetics Research.

The report, “IPTV and Switched Digital Video Equipment, Services, and Subscribers,” lowers the research firm’s long-term IPTV and SDV forecast due to an expected slowdown in IPTV subscriber growth and a decrease in cable operators moving to switched digital video.

Annual overall growth will continue in the worldwide market through the downturn, but will grow in double-digit percentages rather than high triple-digit percentages as in previous years.

Other highlights of the report include:

  • In the third quarter of last year, IP set-top boxes (STBs) accounted for 70 percent of the total IPTV and SDV equipment revenue.
  • IPTV middleware (content delivery platform) sales are up 21 percent for the quarter, and video content protection software sales are up 14 percent.
  • Motorola continued to lead the IP STB market in the third quarter, but Cisco increased its market share 6 points, putting the company in a very close second.
  • In Asia Pacific, the IP STB market is hotly contested by Samsung, Motorola, Sumitomo, Cisco and UTStarcom.
  • Harmonic maintains a strong lead in the worldwide IP video encoder market, leading all segments, including MPEG-2 and SD and HD MPEG-4 encoders;
  • Iliad Group of France led in the number of IPTV subscribers, with 3 million in the quarter.

For more information, visit www.infonetics.com.