OTT to ‘end broadcast TV as we know it’

The emergence of the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video signals “the end of broadcast TV as we know it”, according to media analysts at Juniper Research.

A new study suggests the OTT market will generate revenues of US$31.6 billion by 2019, up from the US$8 billion taken last year.

This will encompass continued growth in Western European and North American markets and the emergence of OTT players in the Far East and Asia Pacific that result in a surge of subscribers worldwide.

With lower cost services such as Dish Networks’ Sling TV aiding customers in bypassing traditional pay TV platforms, cord-cutting will continue apace, Juniper predicted.

Furthermore, Juniper said 4K would drive demand, though it noted early uptake of such services via Netflix and YouTube has been “slow thus far”. With OTT services seemingly ahead of their linear rivals in adopting 4K and the growing proliferation of affordable 4K televisions, the medium will become a factor in consumer choices, Juniper said.

Indeed sales of 4K sets grew 699% year-on-year in 2014, according to Futuresource Consulting numbers from February. One-hundred million sets are expected to ship per annum by 2018.

Other findings in the Mobile & Online TV & Video: OTT, IPTV & Connected Markets 2015-2019 report included that 84% of OTT subscriptions will be made via connected TVs by 2019, and that IPTV are set to double in the next four years as mobile network operators launch new triple- and quad-play services.