Comments on: Content Offerings Only Reach a Few Million TVs

By: Bill Moore

Bill Moore — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:31:11 +0000

I have to say I don’t agree with your numbers.

Echostar has 13.7 million STB’s in the market. About 4 million are IP enabled and 100% of all their new boxes are also IP enabled. They also sell another several million to ‘other’ providers outside of the US, also, all, IP enabled.

That’s just one STB from one MSO type company.

PeerTV, out of Israel, has sold well into six figures of IP cable STB’s. There are dozens of PeerTV like companies in business and dozens more announcing new products every week.

I could go on, but you get the idea. You’re picture of what’s actually happening is just wrong.

I would bet you’re off by at least 8 figures.

And you’re not even considering how virtually every HD capable TV being shipped next year will have either an ethernet/wifi ‘option’ or it’ll just come built in. Just look at Sony, Samsung, LG and pretty much every other TV makers product roadmaps for the next 24 months.

In 18 months, the number of internet enabled TV’s is very likely to be in the 9 figure range.

Will they all be hooked up the internet? Depends on what services are available then. By what I can tell though, there are a lot of very bright people working on just that problem.

By: Dave Robinson

Dave Robinson — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:37:16 +0000

I use the Wii to play BBC iPlayer content direct to my TV. Indeed, this was one of the motivations to get this neat gaming device. Before that, I used a VGA cable to play content from all the major UK broadcasters catch-upTV service to my Sony Bravia. This is a backup for my SkyHD+ service. The HD version fails to record more often than my old SD Sky+

By: Cjohn17

Cjohn17 — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:20:01 +0000

I knew VUDU had their work cut out for them considering the increased on-demand competition. But there is no way VUDU can compete with multi-functional boxes like Apple TV & PS3 and still charge as much as they do for a unit that only plays video - plus, it’s not wireless. VUDU isn’t even keeping up with number of HD movies Apple TV offers. Apple TV has hundreds more.

By: Jim B.

Jim B. — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:18:49 +0000

In the long run, the cable operators still have the best shot at bringing Internet-based video to the TV. Set-top boxes still have the most penetration with consumers and provide them with multiple ways of getting content.
Just how many of these STBs can now and/or be programmed to deliver web content to the TV?I agree with Billy-start giving this away-advertised funding to grab the consumer-then offer new services to keep them( remember a little idea called ‘YouTube?)

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:10:35 +0000

I own an XBOX 360 but no XBox Live. The 360 sits on a shelf in a closet. Wii has replaced it.

I own a TiVo Series 3. I’ve downloaded from Amazon Unbox to TiVo. As a Netflix user, too, I wish that Netflix would feed TiVo instead.

The Roku player isn’t exactly giving it away, but it’s close.

By: Chris Hynes

Chris Hynes — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:00:41 +0000

You’re drastically underestimating the 360 video penetration. Microsoft has a video service just like PS3 — 360 does not require netflix to purchase and/or watch videos.

You should use the same formula used for PS3 (80% of installed base have broadband) instead of doing an intersection of 360 and Netflix. That gives you 8.4 million devices from 360 alone.

When you combine all the other numbers you calculated it totals to 10.3 million, nearly double your original estimate.

Granted, this is still a small number compared to the total number of tv’s, but it’s a start.

By: Dan Rayburn

Dan Rayburn — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:18:50 +0000

Hi Matt, the numbers I gave were specific to the U.S. and specific to hardware devices, specific to the TV. You can’t compare that to the iPlayer which is not even a hardware device. That’s not an apples to apples comparison. Yes, right now, the U.S. has a very, very small penetration rate for these devices. I don’t think it is the dark ages, but the numbers prove it’s very small today. They will grow over time, but the real question is how quickly and to what degree?

By: Billy Shipp

Billy Shipp — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:22:04 +0000

This is why someone needs to start giving away these types of boxes. I think there is a huge opportunity to disrupt the existing cable television distribution model in which the content management hardware is given to consumers for free, basic video streaming is provided for free (funded via advertising) and additional video services are available as a paid service (either subscription or a la carte).

By: Matt Aiken

Matt Aiken — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:55:11 +0000

Wow! you’re way off the mark here, while numbers in the US are relatively small - in the UK BBC iPlayer is available on the wii, the iPlayer standing at 21.8m downloads, and you’re telling us that the US can’t match those figures with Tivo? BT Vision, or Virgin’s boxes just add to the devices that can handle internet delivered content, even then they;re only scratching the surface of what’s really happening. The digital switchovers in Europe and the US are actually mushrooming those figures, as people upgrade their hardware. Your post made it sound like the US is still in the digital dark ages, I’m sure that’s not true.

By: How big of an impact is Internet-delivered video making in consumer living rooms? | last100

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:32:43 +0000

[...] of StreamingMedia.com and the blogger behind BusinessofVideo.com, crunched numbers in a post for GigaOm today and decided that the impact is not nearly as large as we [...]

By: Dan Rayburn

Dan Rayburn — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:31:51 +0000

Hi Praveen, I didn’t include the Wii as they have no content offering for movies or syndication deals for online video that I am aware of. I know you can surf the web with Wii but you are very limited as to the online video content you can access. Thanks.

By: Praveen

Praveen — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:18:45 +0000

Why is Nintendo Wii missing from this list? Is it because we can’t get Netflix on the embedded opera browser? I love the Wii and I can watch youtube as well as my media through Orb.

Love to see Netflix through my Wii.

By: Pickle

Pickle — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:30:23 +0000

How many VGA cables have been sold? That’s what makes the computer blippy bits work on my bravia.

By: Content Offerings Only Reach a Few Million TVs « NewTeeVee

Content Offerings Only Reach a Few Million TVs « NewTeeVee — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:19:21 +0000

[...] When looking at any new technology offering, however, market penetration rates are crucial. As we’ve seen in the past, the best technology is not what always wins — all that matters is what consumers adopt. For a breakout of the numbers for these TV-connected devices and content offerings, head over to GigaOM. [...]