VoD To Reach One Third Of Homes Worldwide By 2010

The Asia Pacific region is forecast to have 125 million on-demand homes by 2010, overtaking the US as market leader which is predicted to have 103 million on-demand homes by the same time.

Commenting on the predictions, Simon Dyson, author of the report said: “So much of the content available through VoD is free of charge and many of the more successful operators are looking to expand their free offerings.”

He continued: “Although this doesn’t generate much in the way of revenues at the moment, it adds value for subscribers and has become a really useful tool for reducing churn. Within a few years subscribers will be migrated to paid content and then significant revenues will be generated.”

Despite continuing caution with regards to making forecasts, many operators have made progress in upgrading their networks and consumers continue to embrace digital TV as well as high-speed internet.

Informa expects more traditional methods of delivery such as pay-per-view for sports and near-video-on-demand for staggered movie screenings via digital cable and DTH, to dominate the on-demand sector for the next five years.

Currently the US leads VoD uptake with eMarketer estimating that there are 24 million VoD enabled homes, increasing to 47 million by 2007. Elsewhere, Magna Global is less optimistic, forecasting the figure to be much lower, at 33.5 million (see Emerging Technologies In The TV Marketplace).

Research from branded content specialist, Contentworx found that 43% of respondents said that they would be willing to pay for VoD, rising dramatically amongst 18-24 year olds, where 73% said they would pay, with the majority saying they were prepared to pay “over £16” per month for the privilege, compared with 7% “less than £5”, 14% “£6 to £10” and 13% £11 to £15 (see One Third Of TV Viewers Watch TV Away From The Box).