HDTV Could Be On Brink Of Mass Market Acceptance

According to the report, Global HDTV Forecasts 3rd Edition, only 4% of global homes will actively watch HD programming by the end of this year. However, this means nearly 44 million active HD households, up 19 million from the end of 2007 (or 2% of global TV households).

By 2012, Informa forecasts 179 million active HD homes, representing 16% of TV households – more than quadruple the 2008 figure.

Penetration of active HD homes will vary considerably from one country to the next. Canada and the US will have over 70% penetration by 2012, with Japan next at 58%.

The next highest country, Korea, will be quite far behind at 39%, and no other country will be above 30%. Some large territories will have very low shares, such as Brazil (1%), Russia (1%), China (2%) and India (2%).

HD take-up has been highest in North America, partly due to lower-priced equipment and greater content availability but also because the picture and audio quality of standard definition (SD) programming is relatively poor.

Top 10 countries by active HDTV households in 2012
Country	Active HD homes (000)
USA	82,534
Japan	27,084
Canada	9,441
China	8,367
Korea	8,035
France	7,657
UK	7,351
Italy	4,644
Germany	3,838
India	2,092
Source: Informa Telecoms & Media

By 2012, Informa predicts that the US will have 82.5 million active HD homes and Canada will contribute a further 9.4 million.

Asia Pacific is the second-largest region, thanks mainly early adoption in Japan. The region will retain second place – and increase its share of the global total – by 2012, due mainly to take up in Korea (8.0 million) and China (8.4 million).

Simon Murray, the report’s author, said: “France (7.7 million) will boast the highest number of active HD homes in Europe by 2012, spurred mainly by the positive attitude to HD of its FTA broadcasters and digital platforms.

“The same cannot be said of Germany (3.8 million), where the lack of interest from some of the FTA channels will result in slower HD take-up not only in Germany but also in Austria and Switzerland.

“Adoption in the UK (7.4 million) will be very close to the French example.”

Towards the end of last year, Continental Research published a report which found that of all UK consumers aware of HDTV, the proportion of people likely to subscribe has jumped to 30%, with 5% of these saying they are almost certain to subscribe to the service (see Likely Subscribers To HDTV Jumps To 30%).

In other research, Leichtman Research Group found that about one quarter of households in the US have at least one television set capable of receiving HDTV, although there is come consumer confusion about high definition programming and products (see Rapid Growth Of US HDTV Continues).