At the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards this past July, the Netflix original series “House of Cards” took home three Emmy’s, making it the first web-only series to earn a nomination.
Netflix is the world’s leading Internet television network offering one billion hours if TV shows and movies per month to over 37 million members in 40 countries.
In early 2013, Netflix began streaming TV network services, putting them in direct competition with cable and network television providers, which many thought was like pitting David against Goliath. As it turns out, Netflix is holding its own in as an Internet television provider.
Netflix isn’t the only company on the front in the fight against traditional television providers. Internet Protocol Television or IPTV services also offer significant opportunities to make the TV viewing experience more interactive and personalized. The operator may include an interactive program guide that enables the viewers to search for content by title or actor’s name. Operators also provide a picture-in-picture functionality that allows viewers to surf channels without closing down the program currently being watched.
Viewers can also look up a player’s statistics while watching a sports game or control the camera angle. They also may be able to access photos or music from their desktop on their TV, use a wireless phone to schedule a recording of their favorite show, or even adjust parental controls so their children can watch documentaries for a school project while they are away from home.
The need for enhanced interactivity in TV services is a huge reason contributing to the growth of the Global IPTV market, which is expected to post a CAGR of 19.41 percent for the 2012-2016 period. Global IPTV services bring Video on Demand (VoD) to TV so that customers can watch trailers, browse through an online catalogue and then select a recording. For instance, when the customer selects a movie, a point-to-point unicast connection is set up between the customer’s decoder (desktop or set-top box) and the delivering streaming server.
The signaling for the trick play functionality (wind/rewind, pause, and slow-motion) is guaranteed by real-time streaming protocol. The most common codes used for VoD are MPEG-4, MPEG-2, and VC-1. In an attempt to avoid content piracy, the VoD content is usually encrypted. Therefore, the increasing incorporation of advanced features is another driver that is contributing to the growth of the Global IPTV market over the next few years.
Furthermore, global IPTV services enable the customization of several features as per the needs of subscribers. Keeping with this trend, new vendors in the market are offering different customizations with their global IPTV services. This is a vital factor for customer satisfaction and the operators’ overall performance. For instance, global IPTV services provide an additional feature that enables customers to view all the episodes of a single series back to back or at their convenience. Therefore, the increasing customization of features being offered by vendors is another trend that is expected to contribute to the growth of the Global IPTV market in the years to come.
For more information, view our 2012-2016 Global IPTV Market report.
You might also be interested in:
Global Broadcasting and Cable TV Market 2012-2016
Global Ultra High Definition TV Market 2012-2016
Global Smart TV Market 2012-2016
