IPTV growth encompasses cable and satellite TV

Aggressive enhancements to standard packages has resulted in IPTV companies exhibiting markedly more rapid growth than cable TV and satellite rivals, new research from MRG has discovered.

The analyst forecasts the number of global IPTV subscribers to grow from 53 million in 2011 to 105.1 million in 2015, an annual growth of 18.7%, driving a rise in service revenue for the global IPTV markets from $21.8 billion in 2011 to is $45.3 billion in 2015, an annual growth of 20%. The analysis suggests that driving the growth has been a strategy taken by IPTV providers to move away from pure-play IPTV services and to add new ways to deliver content to their customers.

Assessing the trends, Jose Alvear, IPTV Analyst for MRG said: “In recent quarters, IPTV Operators have seen their subscriber growth outpace that of their cable and satellite TV rivals…IPTV operators are expanding their TV offerings by aggressively adding HD, multiscreen and multiview services, and hybrid services like OTT video linked with digital terrestrial or satellite video services.”

Despite recent reports suggesting that 2012 would be the year that Asian firms assume market leadership in the IPTV arena, MRG states that by 2015, Europe and North America will still continue to generate a larger share of the global revenue. “Although certain regions and countries have seen very good IPTV subscriber growth, areas like Latin America, and Southeast Asia still have not gotten off the ground with IPTV,” added Alvear.