May saw a forecast from MRG predicting that IPTV subscribers will grow from 24.4 million in 2008 to 92.8 million in 2012, with service revenue totaling $37.1 billion by 2012.
The global forecast said that while Europe’s subscriber size in 2012 will remain dominant, Asia’s subscriber base will nearly equal Europe’s in 2012, followed by North America (see
IPTV Subscribers Forecast To Reach 92.8m In 2012).
Analysys Mason also released a report on IPTV, forecasting that the pay-TV market will see modest growth in the number of subscriber households (see IPTV To Drive Take-Up Of Pay TV In Western Europe).
According to the report, the number of households subscribing to pay-TV services will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 3.2% from 90.6 million in 2007 to 109.2 million by the end of 2013.
IMS Research said that IPTV set-top box shipments will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 37.1% through the end of 2012.
These shipments will represent revenues of $3 billion. IP and digital terrestrial hybrid set-top boxes are expected to comprise 30% of shipments in 2012 with HD DVR boxes nearing 35% (see IPTV Set-Top Boxes To Be $3 Billion Business In 2012).
However, Canalys issued a warning, saying that although the IPTV market will continue to grow over the next four years, competition from other video platforms will make it increasingly difficult for service providers to convince customers to invest in services (see IPTV Providers Must Continue To Develop Services).
It said that it is essential that IPTV providers (and pay-TV operators in general) continue to develop their services in a bid to differentiate them from the competition.
Turning to social networking, market analyst Datamonitor revealed that the number of people participating in online social networking is booming.
The UK has the highest social networking membership in Europe, said Datamonitor, and it is forecast to almost triple by 2012 to 27 million (see Online Social Networking Participation Is Booming).
May saw eMarketer revise downward its projections for US social network ad spending though, now estimating that advertisers will spend $1.4 billion to place ads on social networks this year, down from the previous projection of $1.6 billion (see Online Social Networking Participation Is Booming).
eMarketer revised its forecast for the two largest social networks, MySpace and Facebook. In its previous prediction, eMarketer said MySpace would bring in $850 million in the US, but that estimate has now dropped 11.2% to $755 million.
At Facebook, advertisers will spend $265 million, a 12.9% drop from the earlier forecast of $305 million.
Meanwhile, e-consultancy forecast that UK media spend on online ad networks will reach an estimated £385 million in 2008, following growth of 60%.
e-consultancy said that this growth was due to improved understanding of the potential for return on investment and increased opportunities to reach the right audience effectively (see UK Spend On Online Ad Networks To Grow).
