Worldwide subscriptions to IPTV services are on pace to reach 19.6 million subscribers in 2008, a 64.1% increase from 12 million subscribers in 2007, according to the latest Gartner research.
The report found that worldwide IPTV revenue is projected to total more than $4.5 billion this year, a 93.5% increase from $2.3 billion total revenue in 2007.
By the end of 2008, 1.1% of households worldwide will subscribe to internet television services and Gartner forecasts that by 2012, IPTV subscribers will increase to 2.8%.
The research also predicted that IPTV revenue will total around $19 billion in 2012.
Elroy Jopling, Gartner’s research director, said: “The biggest change since 2007 is the rapid advent of new entrants making inroads in consumer video consumption and placing greater demands on IPTV operators to innovate. The video consumption field will become increasingly crowded.”
New competitors include players such as YouTube and Joost, as well as social networking sites MySpace and Facebook.
In addition, device manufacturers are offering their own internet-based offerings, such as Apple TV, while some broadcasters are going directly to the consumer over the internet, for example, the BBC’s iPlayer.
A number of over-the-top providers, such as Amazon’s video-on-demand service, and video rental services, such as Blockbuster, are currently in the process of developing or launching their own combined set-top box and video download service.
However, the research also shows that the global market is largely characterised by regional variations and the success of IPTV services are often governed by local factors.
According to the report, Western Europe is the region with the largest number of IPTV subscribers, while North America is the largest market for IPTV revenue.
“In the future, especially in the developed markets, we will see an emphasis on innovation and differentiated pay-TV services,” said Jopling.
A digital television report published by Datamonitor last month estimated that IPTV services would show strong average yearly growth of around 28%, reaching almost 23 million households in Western European and the US by 2012 (see Strong Growth Forecast For Digital TV Adoption).
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