Reports: VOD

The unbundling of TV consumption is catalysing the smart home, with media streamers and smart TVs driving adoption and engagement. The smart home entertainment ecosystem will expand due to smart devices (smart TVs and smart speakers), as they are building on traditional consumption habits and engagement of key segments to act as smart home ecosystem ambassadors.

2015 was a year of unparalleled transition for US pay-TV. AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV catapulted the communications company to the front of the pack with a combined subscriber base of 26 million, reaching nearly a quarter of US households. Meanwhile regulators blocked Comcast’s year long bid for Time Warner, enabling rival Charter Communications to move in on the newly vulnerable target.

2015 to 2020 will be a transformational period for the video sector. Accessing TV content online will become mainstream as video penetration reaches 50% by 2019. Despite solid adoption of subscription and video sharing services, it will be the migration of mass-market TV online that will drive the explosive growth.

It seems counter intuitive to suggest the physical ownership of content has an addressable market in the digital era. Despite the ubiquity of digital delivery mechanisms for premium content, the desire for physical possession has not gone away. A market opportunity exists to provide complementary physical products both as reassurance for older generations and as a unique consumer experience for Digital Natives.