Pay-TV 2012: the Big Challenges and Opportunities

The U.S. pay-TV market had an adoption rate that service providers in other nations would envy. For the longest time it seemed that the only way to go was up. The incumbent's quest for more channels was coupled with the desire to add new features like optional pay-per-view offerings and DVR capabilities in set-top boxes.

The result: upward trending subscriber growth -- with a corresponding increased revenue and profit.

Meanwhile, all the status-quo players supported a perpetual increase in the ongoing cost of sporting event programming. The assumption was that these high-cost sports channels would be subsidized by the masses. Everyone had to pay the price -- including subscribers that rarely or never watched ESPN.

The video entertainment ecosystem was tightly controlled by the business development needs of a few large media companies. Others in the ecosystem had to adapt to their demands -- therefore most complied. Nobody seemed to care that the fundamental business models were vulnerable -- because they were based upon dysfunctional business practices that limited innovation.

But what if pay-TV subscribers could find episodes of TV series and movie content from alternative (lower-cost) sources? Moreover, what if those new industry players were subversive and disruptive -- not willing to adopt the nonsensical rules of the legacy incumbents?

What if the marketplace, an assumed captive audience, truly had a choice?

Fragmentation: a Free Market for Video Entertainment

According the the latest market study by eMarketer, the U.S. online video ecosystem is thriving and poised for continued growth. Eager consumer viewership, technology adoption and high-quality content availability are driving the upside potential -- for at least the next four years.

The sites people use to watch premium video online are gaining momentum. Established destinations such as YouTube, Yahoo! and Facebook continue to grow, while other sites -- such as VEVO, the music video site -- are rapidly attracting more viewers and top advertisers.

Even high-profile online services that have struggled in recent months, including Netflix and Hulu, are maintaining market leadership and brand strength in their respective content areas.

"The convergence of audience growth, technology advances and content availability has provided marketers with a wealth of opportunities to attach brands to premium video,” said Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer.

The Market Transition Advances Slowly, But Surely

According to eMarketer's assessment, the trend will continue in the coming years, but will be tempered by challenges -- including digital piracy, a lack of standardization in ad types and cost structures. In addition, there's the tendency for some old-school industry players to try and prolong restraint-of-trade practices that restrict content access to their preferred distributors.

Regardless, eMarketer anticipates that U.S. online video viewers will reach nearly 170 million by the end of 2012. Furthermore, young children (ages 11 and under) and senior (ages 65 and older) online viewers are growing at above-average rates -- as they catch up with the rest of the viewing public.

The momentum for adoption is still advancing. U.S. adult internet users who watch TV shows online will rise by double-digit percentages in the next two years. And, it's expected that nearly 60 million U.S. adults will watch full-length feature films online -- at least once per month in 2012.

"From movies and full-length TV shows to sports streams and made-for-web programming, video is finding receptive audiences on all types of connected devices," said Verna.

I'm expecting the trend will demonstrate that further fragmentation is good for the overall prospects of continued free market development, and that those players who welcome the emerging competitive landscape will help to create the much-needed new business model innovations.

2011 Highlights: the Digital Lifescapes in Retrospect

The global Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) marketplace was very eventful during the past year. The vast majority of TMT sector product and service marketers have experienced both great challenges and unprecedented new opportunities in 2011.

That being said, I've selected a few stories from the Digital Lifescapes archive that I believe are noteworthy, from a marketing practices point of view -- both in retrospect and a forward-looking perspective.

Spending on Under-Performing Ads is Still Foolish

The media-buyer mentality is still pervasive with most marketers. Given what we know about the typical ROI results from advertising, when compared to quality editorial content publication, why do marketers spend their budgets on under-performing ads? It's easier to buy advertising placements than create meaningful new content that appeals to your customers and prospects.

More >> Legacy Marketers Provide a Windfall for Facebook

Transmedia Storytelling Creates New Opportunities

Brand marketers in a variety of different industries are beginning to accelerate their multimedia production and distribution efforts. They're acting more like non-fiction storytellers and commercial publishers, as they create new forms of digital content.

More >> SXSW 2011: Transmedia Content Marketing

There is No Substitute for Meaningful Content

Today's technology-centric business success often hinges on the ability to inform and guide prospective customers who are entering the buying-cycle for complex products and services. However, few marketers have mastered this essential skill -- informing and guiding via digital multimedia content -- in a meaningful way.

More >> Inform and Guide Customers with Crossmedia Content

Social Media Marketing Hype was Anticlimactic

Many senior executives may want to believe that an investment in social media marketing is strategic to their business, but they're apparently still not convinced. They've read all the hype about the huge amount of people that registered on Facebook, but they question how many of their customers or prospects access the social network regularly.

More >> Google+ Avoids the Bad Perception of Social Media

Smartphone, Tablet and Cloud Service Transformation

The popularization of smartphones and the introduction of tablets and other web-enabled devices have contributed to an explosion in digital media consumption. As these devices gain adoption, we have also seen the rise of the ‘digital omnivores’ -- consumers who access content through several touch-points during the course of their daily digital lives.

More >> Digital Omnivores Feast on the New Media Landscape

Real Thought Leadership is Truly a Rare Commodity

Customers and prospects are more likely to "follow" the authentic employees that they can relate to, not merely the companies or organizations that they represent. That's how you can really make your people-centered marketing strategy more meaningful next year.

More >> How Marketers Can Humanize B2B Outreach in 2012

Freemium Smartphone Apps will Dominate in 2012

ABI Research believes that the emergence of the smartphone "Freemium" software application (app) market has been much more than a mere buzzword from this year. Moreover, the global market outlook for 2012 is likely to follow a similar pattern of high growth.

Within the top-ranked 250 Apple iOS apps, across all categories, an average of 88 percent are already free to download -- monetized incrementally with advertising and in-app purchases.

The trend will continue in 2012, and it is entirely possible that at this time next year, in selected categories, all relevant Apple iOS apps will be free.

Apple enabled in-app purchasing for free apps in October 2009 and since then developers have been remarkably quick to evolve their business models.

Aapo Markkanen, senior analyst for consumer mobility at ABI Research, said "What many observers misunderstand about Freemium is that it isn't only about monetizing, but also about marketing. The threshold for consumers to download free apps is really low, so more people end up using and recommending them -- which then also gives those apps a bump in distributor ranking systems."

The resulting impact: paid apps fail to draw the attention of smartphone users. However, the app adoption trend can differ substantially between countries.

In Germany, 17 percent of the top Apple iOS apps are still paid, while in India and South Africa their share is already as low as 5 percent. By contrast, in the United States, 10 percent of the top apps are free.

Furthermore, revenue models vary notably between different app categories. In both navigation and weather, one-fourth of the top apps are paid, whereas in segments like lifestyle (3 percent), entertainment (5 percent), and games (6 percent), their share is starting to be miniscule.

According to Dan Shey, ABI Research practice director for mobile services, "Apple has always had an edge against other app platforms in convincing users to pay, and if anything, the shift toward Freemium is amplifying the dynamic. In-app purchases are often impulse purchases, so the payment experience has to be very smooth and simple."

Regarding Google's mobile app market opportunity, ABI believes that revising the Android Market's current billing process will be one of the key issues for the company to address in 2012.

Expanding the Use of Self-Serve Interactive Kiosks

Companies in various industries seek to reduce their operational costs, increase revenue opportunities and improve customer service by deploying interactive kiosks to assist their customers.

They typically use this market development strategy as an additional communications channel -- to enable their customers with convenient self-service options that don't require employee involvement.

Demand for new kiosks will increase at a steady pace. The number of interactive kiosks in operation will rise from approximately 1.6 million deployed in 2011 to nearly three million deployed globally by 2016.

"The self-service technology trend has been occurring for several years, with consumers increasingly seeking greater convenience in the channels that they choose to utilize," says Sam Lucero, practice director, M2M connectivity at ABI Research.

At the center of this self-service trend are interactive devices that are located in public places. Kiosks are not a new channel. In fact, consumers worldwide already use them for self-checkout in the supermarket or to checking-in for their flight at an airport.

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, interactive kiosks are now having a growing impact on the following seven market segments:

• Entertainment (e.g. DVD rental, photo printing, movie ticket ordering)
• Retail (e.g. self-checkout, deli-counter ordering, product information)
• Travel (e.g. airport check-in, hotel check-in/check-out)
• Financial services (e.g. bill payment, coin exchange, check cashing)
• Healthcare (e.g. patient check-in, patient information, prescription refills)
• Municipal & government (e.g. train/bus ticketing, driver’s license renewal, tax payment)
• Information/other (e.g. wayfinding, information, human resources)

While the interactive kiosk market is expected to continue growing over the next five years, there remain some roadblocks to address -- in order to sustain the ongoing market development of the category.

"Interactive kiosks in various segments, such as healthcare, can face challenges regarding consumer acceptance, channel conflict with other means of interacting with the consumer, and with automated customer service not meeting a desired level of personalized support," says Lucero.

Cable Set Top Box Market Tops $6.5 Billion in 2011

While some video entertainment industry analysts and consumer electronics pundits are eager to predict a rapid decline of the traditional pay-TV set top box market, others are less sure about the near-term prospects.

That being said, a few still see some upside market opportunity within the mainstream pay-TV category.

The set top box market actually experienced pockets of growth in 2011, primarily due to robust demand for digital cable set top box products in Asia.

In contrast, North American cable set top box unit shipments are decreasing, largely due to the declining number of cable TV subscriber households -- combined with cable TV operators tightening their capital expenditure budgets.

According to the latest market study by NPD In-Stat, they report that global digital set top box unit shipments are on track to exceed 55 million, down just 1 percent from 2010 unit shipments.

"In-Stat believes that the long-term outlook for the cable set top box market is positive," says Mike Paxton, Research Director at NPD In-Stat.

Although they are currently projecting global unit shipments to decrease slightly in 2012 and 2013, the ongoing shift from analog cable services to digital cable services in the developing world will boost demand again in 2014.

NPD In-Stat's market study revealed the following:

• Motorola Mobility continues to be the leading cable set top box manufacturer, followed by Cisco Systems.
• Demand for high-definition (HD) cable set top boxes continues to be strong. In 2011, almost 11 million HD cable set top boxes will ship worldwide.
• The total available market (TAM) for semiconductor components in digital cable set top boxes is forecast to be $2.9 billion in 2011.
• Total digital cable set top box product revenues are projected to reach $6.5 billion in 2011.

63.3 Million Tablets were Shipped Worldwide in 2011

Worldwide shipments of media tablets rose by 23.9 percent on a sequential basis in the third quarter of 2011 (3Q11) to 18.1 million units, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). That represents an increase of 264.5 percent from the same quarter last year, but 5.8 percent below the original forecast of 19.2 million units.

Despite these slightly lower-than-expected shipments in 3Q11, IDC anticipates a strong demand in 4Q11 and has increased its worldwide shipment forecast for 2011 to 63.3 million units -- that's up from a previous projection of 62.5 million units.

Apple shipped 11.1 million units in 3Q11, up from 9.3 million units in 2Q11. That represents a 61.5 percent worldwide market share (down from 63.3 percent in 2Q11). HP shipped 903,354 units to grab a 5 percent share of the worldwide market, number three behind Samsung's 5.6 percent market share.

After IDC updated its taxonomy to move LCD-based devices -- such as Barnes & Noble's Nook Color -- into the media tablet category, Barnes & Noble shipped 805,458 units to achieve the number four spot with a 4.5 percent market share. ASUS rounded out the top five with a 4 percent share.

After ceding share in 3Q11 (down to 32.4 percent from 33.2 percent the previous quarter), IDC expects Google Android devices to make dramatic share gains in 4Q11 -- growing to 40.3 percent market share. That increase is due mostly to the entrance of Amazon's Kindle Fire, and to a lesser extent the Barnes & Noble Nook tablet.

The share increase comes at the expense of Blackberry (slipping from 1.1 percent to 0.7 percent), iOS (slipping from 61.5 percent to 59.0 percent), and webOS (slipping from 5 percent to 0 percent).

Despite HP's announcement last week that it would contribute webOS to the Open Source community, IDC does not believe the operating system will reappear in the media tablet market in any meaningful way going forward.

Despite the loss of LCD-based products (relocated into the media tablet category), the eReader device market continued to see strong shipment growth. In 3Q11 the worldwide total improved to 6.5 million units, up from 5.1 million units in 2Q11 -- representing quarter-over-quarter growth of 27 percent and year-over-year growth of 165.9 percent.

From a worldwide perspective, eReader volumes in the U.S. are expected to remain a huge majority at 80 percent share. Europe, the second largest market, should rise to its highest volume levels in 4Q11 due to holiday shopping, but is not growing at the expected rate due to lack of local language content and the uncertain eurozone climate.

How Marketers Can Humanize B2B Outreach in 2012

More forward thinking companies that market their business-to-business (B2B) offerings online are using social media as a key ingredient of their marketing mix.

Marketers believe that the more focused B2B networking sites, such as LinkedIn, are an effective way to generate leads -- while more casual social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, are helping to reach customers in new ways.

"Leveraging social media for branding and awareness-building can help humanize B2B companies, establish them as thought leaders, and offer new touch-points for connecting with customers and prospects,” said Kimberly Maul, analyst at eMarketer.

Social Media Marketing as a Mainstream Practice

As of May 2011, 89 percent of U.S. based B2B companies were using social media marketing, according to web survey company iTracks. Their survey was conducted among Business Marketing Association members, CMOs and other senior employees overseeing B2B marketing programs.

The majority of survey respondents cite LinkedIn as the top B2B social media site, but others prefer Facebook and Twitter. According to Sagefrog Marketing Group, in summer 2011, 58 percent of U.S. B2B marketers that used social media used LinkedIn, compared to 50 percent for Facebook and 43 percent for Twitter.

While LinkedIn has proven successful for reaching customers and demonstrating thought leadership, B2B marketers are also working to leverage it to attract customers back to their own community sites and forums.

Some have already learned how to connect their online outreach efforts to leads and sales. We can anticipate that those efforts will likely increase in 2012.

The Most Credible People will Influence Buyers Online

"In addition to exposure metrics and engagement, marketers will need to develop strategies and goals with measurement in mind and follow their customers throughout the buying cycle to make that connection," said Maul.

Besides, I believe that savvy marketing executives will more effectively utilize acknowledged internal thought-leader talent to be the credible public-facing spokesperson for companies -- regardless of their rank or job title.

Customers and prospects are more likely to "follow" the authentic employees that they can relate to, not merely the companies or organizations that they represent. That's how you can really make your people-centered marketing strategy more meaningful next year.

Americans Viewed 7.2 Billion Video Ads in November

comScore released data showing that 183 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in November for an average of 20.5 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience viewed 40.9 billion videos.

Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in November with 151.6 million unique viewers, while VEVO ranked second with 55.4 million. Facebook.com ranked third with 50.8 million viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 50.4 million and Viacom Digital with 47.4 million.

More than 40 billion videos views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 20.5 billion. The average viewer watched 20.5 hours of online video content, with Google Sites (7.4 hours) and Hulu (3.3 hours) demonstrating the highest engagement among the top ten properties.

Americans viewed 7.2 billion video ads in November, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.3 billion, followed by Tremor Video in second with 1.1 billion. Adap.tv crossed the 1 billion mark for the first time earning the #3 spot, followed by BrightRoll Video Network with 722 million and Specific Media with 513 million.

Time spent watching video ads totaled more than 3 billion minutes during the month, with Tremor Video delivering the highest duration of video ads at 594 million minutes. Video ads reached 53 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 45 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 44.

YouTube partner data revealed that video music channels VEVO (53.4 million viewers) and Warner Music (31.1 million viewers) maintained the top two positions. Gaming channel Machinima ranked third with 19.6 million viewers, followed by Schmooru with 12.4 million, Maker Studios with 9.3 million and disney jimmykimmel with 8.8 million.

Among the top 10 YouTube partners, VEVO demonstrated the highest engagement (71.1 minutes per viewer) and highest number of videos viewed (845 million), while Machinima exhibited the second highest engagement (68.5 minutes per viewer) and number of videos viewed (327 million).

Other findings from the November 2011 study include:

• 85.9 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
• The duration of the average online content video was 5.5 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
• Video ads accounted for 15.0 percent of all videos viewed and 1.3 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.

4G LTE Mobile will be Targeted at Early Adopters

According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, worldwide service revenues generated by 4G LTE mobile networks are forecast to grow rapidly -- once all the planned networks are launched, and when the early-adopters have subscribed -- eventually exceeding $265 billion by 2016.

While the total number of LTE consumer subscribers will be higher than enterprise in 2016, it is a different picture from a service revenue perspective, with the consumer segment accounting for under half of the total.

Premium service tariffs -- to provide high-end enterprise users with required guaranteed connections and/or service levels -- was identified as an important offering, to help derive the much needed incremental revenues to justify a carrier's investment in LTE infrastructure.

The study found that early-adopters of LTE will be mobile service subscribers who are currently in the higher echelons of monthly spend. This will be the case in developing countries as much as in developed countries.

Nitin Bhas, research analyst with Juniper Research, said "We believe that high-end enterprise users in developing countries will be much closer in spend to similar users in North America or Western Europe and certainly very distinct from the bulk of the population that contribute towards the high level regional ARPU levels for all generations, including 2G."

High traffic subscribers using video, web and email services on their smartphones will apparently become the critical early-adopter segment to benefit from 4G LTE services. In fact, their acceptance of new LTE offerings are the key market indicator to follow and assess.

Other findings from the market study include:

• LTE enterprise ARPU is forecast to experience lower rate of decline than consumer ARPU.
• Western Europe, North America and Far East & China will account for approximately 84 percent of total revenue worldwide by 2016.
• LTE service revenue to represent in excess of 26 percent of total service revenues from all mobile services across all generations by 2016.

Global Online Video Viewership Reaches 1.2 Billion

comScore released new data revealing that the worldwide growth of online video consumption appears to have no limits. "As global broadband connectivity continues to rise, online video viewing has taken off in a big way and has become a fully integrated component of the digital content experience," said Dan Piech, comScore product manager for video.

In October 2011, 201.4 billion videos were viewed online from a home or work location, with the global viewing audience reaching 1.2 billion unique viewers age 15 and older.

Google Sites led as the top global video property with nearly 88.3 billion videos viewed on the property during the month, accounting for 43.8 percent of all videos viewed globally. YouTube.com was the key driver of video viewing on Google Sites, accounting for more than 99 percent of videos viewed on the property.

China-based Youku, Inc. was the second largest video property globally with 4.6 billion videos viewed in October (2.3 percent global share), followed by VEVO which accounted for nearly 3.7 billion videos (1.8 percent share).

Nearly 2.6 billion videos were watched on Facebook.com during the month (1.3 percent share), followed by Japan-based Dwango Co., Ltd. with 2.5 billion videos viewed (1.2 percent share).

An analysis of selected online video markets by engagement revealed that viewers in Canada and the U.S. averaged the highest number of videos per viewer in October -- at 303 videos and 286 videos, respectively.

Viewers in the UK averaged 268 videos per viewer during the month, while viewers in Turkey and Germany both watched an average of 250 videos.

Analysis of selected markets with the highest penetration of online video viewing revealed that 93.6 percent of Internet users in Turkey watched video during the month, followed by Canada with 90.9 percent of web users consuming video.

Although markets in Latin America showed lower overall engagement with online video compared to their counterparts in other regions, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico ranked among the markets with the highest penetration -- highlighting a significant opportunity for marketers and advertisers as these online video markets continue to develop.

HD Video Driving New Mobile Device Requirements

Partly driven by the desire to be connected anywhere, anytime -- and to have access to every type of content -- the consumer electronics (CE) industry continues to develop new mobile communication and computing platforms.

A key dynamic of this change is the consumer desire for a rich visual experience on any size screen. This experience continues to push the limits of current mobile System-on-a-Chip (SoC) capabilities and makes the graphics processing unit (GPU) one of the most critical components in the design and differentiation of the SoC and consumer devices.

According to the latest market study by NPD In-Stat, they now forecast that these trends will push the mobile SoC TAM to over 3.1 billion devices in 2015 -- that's up from 2 billion in 2010.

Devices that may require a mobile SoC include cellphones, smartphones, netbook PCs, media tablets, digital still cameras, mp3 players, personal navigation devices, e-readers, handheld game consoles, digital camcorders, and portable media players.

"The shift toward graphical user interfaces and media-rich content in entertainment and computing has pushed multimedia acceleration, including graphics, video, and audio, in electronic devices from a simple co–processing function to the forefront of semiconductor and system design," says Jim McGregor, Research Director, NPD In-Stat.

This demand has been accelerated by HD video content, higher accessibility to multimedia over the Internet, industry standards, new technologies, and increased communication bandwidth. These advancements, however, also come with the challenges of increased complexity, increased performance requirements, and constraints in power, size, and device cost.

Key findings from the latest study include:

• There are three driver/magnet platforms in the mobile segment - smartphones, tablets, and notebooks PCs - that will grow at a CAGR of 25.7 percent, as compared to 8.7 percent for the overall mobile market.
• Only 40 percent of the mobile SoC TAM will use at least one dedicated GPUs in 2011. It is important to note that both the number of SoCs using GPUs is increasing and the number of GPU cores per SoC is increasing throughout the forecast period.
• Intel and Imagination lead the GPU market because of their dominance in PCs and smartphones, respectively. Combined, the two are projected to comprise 61.3 percent of the GPU Technology Mobile Serviceable Available Market in 2011.
• The division between PC and mobile CE GPUs will narrow in the future, increasing the competition between GPU technologies.

Cloud-Based Enterprise Collaboration Service Apps

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, the global enterprise collaboration services market will reach $3.5 billion in revenue by 2016. In 2010, the market registered 51.7 percent year-on-year growth to reach $898.6 million.

Cloud-based freemium services are currently driving adoption, and volumes are likely to experience an even higher CAGR between 2011 and 2016.

Positive social media experiences in the mainstream user population have prompted people to demand similar services in the enterprise environment.

Applications convergence, business process integration, and technology consolidation have been three key adoption drivers of these social interaction platforms in the enterprise.

Cloud-based platforms are gaining increasing relevance as vendors believe a cloud strategy is indispensable with the market becoming truly multi-modal and the number of social interactions over mobile devices increasing exponentially.

"Mobility is emerging as a key functionality across all platform offerings," says Dan Shey, practice director, mobile services. "Vendors realize the cloud is a powerful facilitator for application mobilization and federation across multiple devices compared to premises-based solutions."

The enterprise collaboration vendor landscape is also seeing rapid changes in terms of market leadership and vendor growth.

According to ABI's assessment, Microsoft SharePoint implementations are pervasive. However, smaller vendors are building solutions with compelling social features that can integrate well with SharePoint -- bridging significant solution gaps and addressing critical market needs.

That being said, I believe that using the word "social" to describe these online software applications (apps) is a big mistake, because to a senior executive it implies encouraging Facebook use in the workplace. That's not intended, but online social media use is typically viewed as unproductive activity by many CEOs.

Therefore, labels such a "Social Business" and "Social Commerce" are likely equally misguided. It's a faddish marketing approach to a serious topic (enterprise talent networking) that -- if executed correctly -- can greatly increase productivity among the most valuable employees within a company.

Digital Marketing to Rise in the Troubled Eurozone

Under normal circumstances, a change in business practices typically flounders in the realm of the legacy marketer. Standing on the sidelines -- with no intent to act -- is the norm for too many executives. Any excuse that could be used to rationalize further inaction merely fuels the status quo. Undaunted, the progressives among them will still advance the much needed transformation.

According to the latest market study by eMarketer, regardless of the growth of digital marketing practices in leading markets, advertising across all media in Western Europe will grow more slowly than expected -- as a result of the region's economic troubles.

eMarketer estimates total media advertising spending in Western Europe will have grown 1.8 percent -- to $114.4 billion by the end of 2011. They previously forecast, in June 2011, that ad spending in the region would grow 3 percent to $115.8 billion in 2011 -- before reaching $120.8 billion in 2012.

Online advertising is growing slightly faster than expected, at 12.8 percent, to reach $24.5 billion in 2011. It will climb 13.9 percent in 2012, to $27.9 billion. Their previous forecast estimated online ad spending in Western Europe would grow 12.5 percent to $23.1 billion in 2011 -- before reaching $26.3 billion in 2012.

"As economic concerns deepen in the eurozone, the shift of advertising from offline to online platforms is accelerating in all major regional markets," said eMarketer senior analyst Karin von Abrams. "Advertisers value the cost-effectiveness, flexibility and accountability of digital ads more highly than ever."

Britain remains the largest ad market in the region, but Germany is emerging, with 2012 online ad spending estimated at $6.5 billion. In France, digital spending will be less than half that, at $3.1 billion. Italy and Spain are much less advanced in online ad spending.

Display advertising, which includes video, banners, rich media and sponsorship ads, is growing by double digits in Western Europe, though not nearly as quickly as in the U.S. market.

eMarketer estimates display advertising in the region will have grown 17.3 percent in 2011, to $8 billion, while search ad spend will rise 14.9 percent, to $11.2 billion, during the same period.

Mobile ad spending, like video, is growing as Western European advertisers take advantage of rapid consumer adoption of smartphones and media tablets. eMarketer estimates that mobile ad spending in the region will pass the $1 billion mark in 2012 and post a CAGR of 52 percent through 2015.

That being said, with the continued poor performance of most advertising efforts, I'm hopeful that more CEOs will demand that the bar of expectations is raised, and 2012 is the year where forward-thinking curated content marketing practices move further into the mainstream.

Top Ten Wireless Telecom Predictions for 2012

As the year comes to a close, most industry analysts are upbeat about the prospects for continued adoption of new mobile devices. However, some are more cautionary in their guidance.

Juniper Research has compiled a list of their predictions for the top trends in the mobile and wireless communications industry during 2012. A free report detailing their market research study findings is available on their website.

According to the latest Juniper assessment, there is a strong possibility that recessionary conditions will have an adverse impact on smartphone and media tablet sales -- particularly in the case of unsubsidized devices.

Juniper's view is that, given the extent to which smartphones have already become a near must-have device, the impact here will be less significant than for tablets, where it may well reduce the extent to which these devices penetrate the wider market, notably across Western Europe.

The effect will be most acutely felt in the premium media tablet sector (such as the Apple iPad), where net device sales could plateau or even decline.

Conversely, the reduction in average purchasing power could conceivably benefit players such as Amazon and ARCHOS, because cash-strapped consumers may opt for the lower-priced Kindle Fire or an ARNOVA-branded device rather than the higher priced media tablets.

Top Ten Wireless Telecom Predictions for 2012

1. Recession Likely to Hit Smart Device Sales.
2. London 2012 to Boost Mobile Advertising and M-Gambling, and Kickstart NFC.
3. Mobile Coupons to Drive mCommerce Market Despite Economic Stagnation.
4. 2012 – The Year of the Quad-Core Processor.
5. Windows 8 OS to Fuel Nokia Revival and Disrupt Tablet Market.
6. 2012 to see High Profile Malware Attacks on Mobile Devices.
7. MEMs Accelerometers and Gyroscopes to Transform Sensor Market for Mobile Devices.
8. Social Gaming to Become a Major Mobile Play with Introduction of Synchronous Gaming.
9. Online, Mobile and Physical Will Begin to Fuse into One Retail Market.
10. Cloud Mobility to Drive Collaborative Communications.

U.S. and Canada Lead in 4G LTE Subscriptions

4G Americas announced that LTE mobile network connections in North America reached 3.3 million -- representing 87 percent of all 3.8 million LTE connections worldwide, according to the latest market study by Informa Telecoms & Media.

This puts the U.S. and Canada in the number one position as global leaders in LTE subscriptions.

"The early deployment of LTE in the United States and Canada has put the region in a leadership position worldwide," stated Chris Pearson, President of 4G Americas. "It is also one of the key reasons why securing additional spectrum is a requirement for continued mobile broadband progress in serving both consumer and business customers while increasing our much-needed economic development in North America."

Without additional spectrum in the region, however, the leadership position will inevitably fall. It is already expected that by 2013 the Asia Pacific region will surpass North America in LTE subscriptions.

In Latin America, where LTE will most likely be deployed during December 2011 or first quarter of 2012, UMTS-HSPA mobile broadband is significantly penetrating the market.

In the year ending September 2011, UMTS-HSPA connections increased by 29.5 million for an 85 percent annual growth rate in the region with total 3GPP mobile broadband connections reaching 64.2 million.

People are finding alternative ways to communicate using services other than voice. With the consequent reduction in voice revenues and the flood of new sophisticated devices such as smartphones and tablets in the hands of the consumer, operators see this trend as an excellent opportunity to increase their data revenues with new and attractive Value Added Services.

Data services contributed an average of 22 percent to ARPU during 2Q 2011. That is the main reason that Latin America and the Caribbean are pressing hard on the HSPA+ accelerator with 28 commercial networks in 17 countries while preparing the way for upcoming LTE deployments.

Global Market Penetration Highlights:

• 5.8 billion total wireless subscribers
• 5.2 billion 3GPP subscriptions (90 percent market share)
• 826 million UMTS-HSPA-LTE mobile broadband subscriptions as of September 2011
• 413 commercial UMTS-HSPA networks
• 173 HSPA+ networks
• 3.8 million LTE subscriptions; 38 commercial LTE networks in 24 countries

Threats Drive Demand for Secure Online Transactions

Service providers, retailers, banks, governments, and multinational enterprises are working hard to counter the growing threat of online hacking and identity fraud that has made headlines throughout 2011.

As a result, vendors of hardware and software solutions aimed at boosting security for online transactions and network access we see increased demand for their offerings.

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, cumulative shipments of hardware-based solutions, including one-time-password (OTP) generators, portable smart card readers, and secure USB tokens will reach 1.8 billion units by the end of 2016.

However, greater development of more user-friendly software in browsers and on mobile devices will result in software solutions accounting for 60 percent of shipments in 2016.

The market will see a boost in growth for USB tokens over the forecast period with OTP generators experiencing a decelerating growth pattern due to high profile hacks to companies such as RSA, reducing OTP credibility.

Overall, the market remains positive, with hardware and software solutions shipping in excess of one billion units in 2016 alone.

ABI Research analyst Phil Sealy says, “High profile hacks have gained extra media attention and coverage, heightening awareness of what a data compromise can mean. Hacks have not been limited to one particular market. RSA, Sony, Citigroup, L-3 Communications, and NASA have all fallen victim in 2011.”

Growth of mobile software solutions will occur from 2013 onward. This is due to an increasing number of smartphones and tablets being utilized to access networks and complete online transactions.

With threats growing, mobile software solutions are forecast to achieve the greatest growth, with annual shipments of 392 million in 2016.

Companies are looking at deploying solutions not only to protect data, but also to limit the possibilities of damaged credibility while maintaining services which are not only safe, but also accessible to their customers.

Profiles of Five TV Viewing Preference Segments

In a bygone era, live TV programming was the top television content source. Now, the availability of digital video recorders (DVRs), Pay-TV on-demand services, and online streaming video options has changed the viewer's preferences.

According to the latest market study by TDG, a growing number of TV viewers fall into segments inclined to first select a source other than live broadcast TV. The impact on the traditional broadcast television ecosystem has been significant.

To better understand this shifting behavior, TDG developed a quantitative framework based on consumer First Glance TV preferences among different television content sources, including live broadcast, DVR-recorded, on-demand, and online shows -- as well as physical discs such as DVD or Blu-ray.

Based on this analysis, TDG identified five key segments -- non-overlapping groups that exhibit unique TV source preferences. The dominant characteristics of each segment are as follows:

Black-Box Baulkers - strongly prefer live broadcast and on-demand content, but shy away from adding new ‘black boxes’ to the TV system, especially devices they have to connect and configure. If a service is fully integrated into their one-device, on-remote experience (e.g., PayTV on-demand) they will bite. If not, forget about it.

TV Traditionalists - prefer live broadcast programs and physical discs, but are much less likely than average viewers to subscribe to or use PayTV on-demand or other value-added services, much less to view DVR-recorded or online TV content. They want ‘regular’ TV and little more.

DVR Devotees - all members of this segment own a DVR and exhibit a uniquely strong initial preference for DVR-recorded content. Despite this penchant for recorded material, however, this segment has very little interest in on-demand content, regardless of source. Interestingly, they are more likely than other segments to subscribe to satellite PayTV versus cable.

Broadcast Castoffs - prefer DVR-recorded and Internet video for ‘First Glance’ TV viewing and have very little interest in live broadcast content. In fact, only 72 percent of this segment has access to live TV broadcasts on their TV. Similarly, they have absolutely no interest in PayTV on-demand services, be it free or transactional.

New Video Enthusiasts - the ‘Early Adopters’ group in this segmentation, they prefer Internet video, PayTV on-demand, and DVR-recorded material, and are less likely to turn to live TV or physical discs (more traditional TV content sources).

Connected TVs are Already in 17 Million Households

Internet-enabled consumer electronics (CE) in the home -- including Smart TVs, Blu-Ray disc players, game consoles, and streaming media players -- continue to grow their market share and now benefit from increased adoption by Americans.

Already about 17 million U.S. households currently own a connected TV, and ownership of streaming media players has nearly doubled since the end of 2010.

Yet only a fraction of consumers that own an Internet-capable TV device actually connects it to the Internet to become over-the-top (OTT) video consumers.

Despite this hurdle, the growing base of OTT video-capable U.S. households is propelling the revenue for online video-on-demand (VoD) and electronic sell through (EST) to double by 2015, according to the latest market study by NPD In-Stat.

"OTT video is continuing to grow, overcoming the barriers of low device connect rates and cumbersome user interfaces," says Keith Nissen, Research Director at NPD In-Stat.

Even stronger growth of I-VOD and EST video services is possible if device manufacturers and digital retailers can put together a simpler device connectivity and configuration solution.

Moreover, the proliferation of media tablets is also contributing to OTT video growth.

Other issues within the OTT video market include:

• Streaming video transactions will reach just under 1 billion in 2010.
• Netflix and other S-VOD service providers are shifting to a more TV-centric model and will soon be competing directly with HBO, Showtime, and Starz.
• The collaborative and competitive models among physical and digital retailers, content owners, and pay TV operators are shifting rapidly as players in the ecosystem grapple with the evolving mix of physical versus digital channels, EST, pay-TV, OTT, and subscription VoD.

Over-the-Top Video Use Reaches the Tipping Point

We've reached a significant tipping-point for over-the-top (OTT) video consumption in the U.S. market. Now that online video user penetration surpassed 50 percent of the general population in 2011, it's truly become a mainstream pursuit.

Americans are watching more video on more devices than ever before. What are the implications for the future outlook? While the accelerated growth of the last year may slow, we can anticipate continued expansion of the OTT video user population.

By 2015, U.S. online video viewers will represent 60 percent of the general population and 76 percent of internet users, according the the findings from the latest market study by eMarketer.

"Audience growth over the next four years will come from all demographic segments, but it will be more pronounced among preteen children, older boomers and seniors," said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst.

These groups have traditionally lagged teens and younger adults in their video viewing activity, but the gaps will start to close as the market matures. Therefore, marketers should consider the opportunities to take advantage of growth pockets among viewers -- at either end of the age spectrum.

Among online video viewers, watching premium content is becoming increasingly popular. eMarketer estimates that 49 percent of U.S. adult online video viewers watched full-length TV shows on the web at least monthly this year, rising to 62.8 percent by 2015.

Full-length movies are also becoming popular, with 37.1 percent of U.S. adult online video viewers downloading or streaming at least one feature film monthly in 2011. eMarketer believes that the viewership rate could increase to 54.1 percent by 2015.

Mobile video adoption is poised to grow rapidly for at least the next four years. Factors contributing to the upside potential include the ongoing strength of the smartphone market, healthy competition among mobile OS ecosystems -- notably Apple iOS and Google Android -- and viewing continuity across device screens.

"As tablets attract a larger share of video viewing, smartphones are benefiting because most tablet users also own smartphones and typically have the same apps on both devices," noted Verna.

With more video content flowing to these apps, users are choosing their preferred device screen at any given time. This means they're switching between tablets and smartphones, or between notebook PCs and one of the other devices.

In 2011, U.S. smartphone viewers represent 90 percent of the mobile video population, according to eMarketer estimates. By 2015, this percentage will rise to 98.5 percent.

Top Five Drivers of Business Technology in 2012

International Data Corporation (IDC) had already predicted that the next wave of business technologies would begin its transition into the mainstream during 2011.

Today, spending on these technologies is growing at about 18 percent per year and is expected to account for at least 80 percent of business technology spending growth between now and 2020.

"The industry's shift to the 3rd Platform will accelerate in 2012, forcing the industry's leaders to make bold investments and fateful decisions," said Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC.

Overall, IDC now forecasts that worldwide IT spending will grow by 6.9 percent year over year to $1.8 trillion in 2012. As much as 20 percent of this total spending will be driven by five technologies that are reshaping the business landscape -- smartphones, media tablets, mobile networks, social networking, and big data analytics.

Meanwhile, emerging markets (defined as all markets except North America, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand) will drive more than half of all IT spending growth worldwide in 2012, led by the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and a handful of other fast-growing markets like Indonesia, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia.

The growing importance of these markets is reflected in IDC's prediction that China will surpass Japan as the world's second largest IT market sometime in the course of the year.

2012 will also be the Year of Mobile Ascendency as mobile devices (smartphones and media tablets) surpass PCs in both shipments and spending and mobile apps, with 85 billion downloads, generate more revenue than the legacy mainframe computer market.

The mobility market will see heated competition in 2012 as Microsoft joins the crucial battle for dominance in the mobile operating system (OS) market and the Amazon Kindle Fire challenges the Apple iPad in the media tablet market.

Similarly, IDC believes that new mobile devices with "good enough" capabilities (think "smartphone lite") will challenge the current device leaders on price and functionality in key emerging markets -- such as China, India, Indonesia, and Brazil.

Competition in cloud services will escalate in 2012, as the strategic focus shifts from building infrastructure to the creation of application platforms and the development of multifaceted ecosystems.

Social networking technologies -- especially where they are being accelerated by mobile technologies -- will be recognized as a mandatory component in every major enterprise IT vendors' strategy.

IDC expects a number of major software vendors to make acquisitions in the "social business" category while others continue to expand their community platforms.

Finally, Big Data will earn its place as the next must-have competency in 2012 as the volume of digital content grows to 2.7 zettabytes (ZB) -- that's up 48 percent from 2011.

Over 90 percent of this information will be unstructured (e.g., images, videos, MP3 files, and files based on social media and Web-enabled workloads) -- full of rich information, but challenging to understand and analyze.

As businesses seek to squeeze high-value insights from this data, IDC expects to see offerings that more closely integrate data and analytics technologies, such as in-memory databases and BI tools, move into the mainstream.

And, like the cloud services market, 2012 is likely to be a busy year for Big Data-driven mergers and acquisitions as large IT vendors seek to acquire additional functionality.

IDC also predicts that 2012 will be a notable year in other areas:

• Mobile data network spending will exceed fixed data network spending for the first time.
• 80 percent of new commercial enterprise apps will be deployed on cloud platforms.
• 15 percent of new mobile apps will be based on HTML5 by year's end.
• Vendors from emerging markets, such as Huawei and China Telecom, will make an aggressive push into developed markets, including the U.S. market.
• The number of intelligent, communicating devices on the network will outnumber traditional computing devices by almost 2 to 1 within next 24 months, changing the way we think -- and interact -- with each other and devices on the network.

90 Million Americans Now Own a Smartphone

comScore reported key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending October 2011. The market study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers. The significant take-away for me was that the Apple iPhone high-growth upside seems to have stalled in America.

Where the platform ecosystem market share gains end in 2011 we likely be a key market indicator for the 2012 outlook. That being said, most industry analysts still predict a continuation of the Google Android upside, at this point in time.

For the three-month average period ending in October, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices.

Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 20.6 percent share and Motorola with 13.6 percent share. Apple strengthened its position at #4 with 10.8 percent share of mobile subscribers (up just 1.3 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 6.6 percent share.

90 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in October, up 10 percent from the preceding three month period.

Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 46.3 percent market share, up 4.4 percentage points from the prior three-month period. Apple maintained its #2 position, growing just 1.0 percentage point to 28.1 percent of the smartphone market. RIM ranked third with 17.2 percent share, followed by Microsoft (5.4 percent) and Symbian (1.6 percent).

In October, 71.8 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 1.8 percentage points. Browsers were used by 44.0 percent of subscribers (up 2.9 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 43.8 percent (up 3.2 percentage points).

Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 2.2 percentage points to 32.3 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 29.2 percent of the mobile audience (up 1.4 percentage points), while 21.2 percent listened to music on their phones (up 0.9 percentage points).

8 Million People in Canada Now Own Smartphones

comScore released data about key trends in the Canadian mobile phone industry for September 2011. The report ranked the leading mobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and smartphone operating system (OS) platforms in Canada.

In September, 20.1 million Canadians ages 13 and older used mobile devices.

Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.2 percent of mobile subscribers in Canada, followed by LG with 20.0 percent share and RIM with 14.3 percent share. Apple ranked fourth with 12.0 percent share of subscribers, while Nokia rounded out the top five at 10.1 percent.

8 million people in Canada owned smartphones in September 2011, representing 40 percent of the mobile market in Canada -- a gain of 7 percentage points in the past six months.

RIM ranked as the top platform with 35.8 percent of the smartphone market, followed by Apple at 30.1 percent. Google Android gained ground among the competition by doubling its market share to 25.0 over the past six months. Symbian ranked fourth with 4.2 percent share, followed by Microsoft with 3.2 percent.

Canadians use their mobile devices to access a wide variety of content. In September, 67.4 percent of the total Canada mobile audience used text messaging on their mobile device, compared to 88.1 percent of the Smartphone audience.

Downloaded applications were used by 40.9 percent of the total mobile audience, compared to 84.2 percent of smartphone subscribers.

Mobile browsers were another popular way of accessing mobile content, used by 36.9 percent of the total audience and 74.8 percent of the smartphone audience. 39.5 percent of the total audience and 79.3 percent of the smartphone audience used their phones to stay up-to-date on the latest news.

Other popular mobile behaviors included accessing maps (44.4 percent of smartphone subscribers), accessing bank accounts (28.8 percent of smartphone subscribers) and scanning QR codes (18.1 percent of smartphone subscribers).

Mobile Hotspot Router Sales to Exceed $5 Billion

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, beyond the typical bandwidth caps and network-based throttling efforts, a fundamental shift is about to begin in mobile data communications service delivery.

Mobile network operators around the globe have been ridiculed by their customers, due to perpetually poor service performance and declining user experience, as millions of new devices look to connect to the Internet.

It's true, many mobile operators have not scaled their broadband network capacity fast enough to meet the growing demand, and so they essentially crippled their service offering -- alienating their customers in the process.

A solution is close at hand, however, in the form of a smartphone-sized device that connects several Wi-Fi-enabled devices to a single mobile broadband subscription: the mobile hotspot router.

Shipments in 2011 are expected to reach 7.1 million units with an estimated end-user revenue value of $1 billion.

Instead of tackling mobile data service shortcomings by merely adding more core network capacity, network operators are increasingly looking for data signaling optimization and device aggregation techniques in the Radio Area Network (RAN), where mobile hotspot routers help alleviate these challenges.

"The first products to reach the market in 2009 generally overshot the mass consumer population," says Jeff Orr, group director, mobile devices at ABI.

Products were very complex to set up and catered to an IT-managed remote workgroup environment, such as a construction site or field emergency response team.

Advancements have been made by vendors to reduce the size and complexity of mobile hotspot routers. The solutions also address imminent carrier challenges as they expand operations to support the deluge of mobile data user demands.

Network operators want to grow the subscriber base profitably, but risk further alienating users who feel that the internet access continues to slow down as more devices are sold and activated. Clearly, punitive business practices that show contempt for customers are not a solution to the problem.

"The mobile hotpot router is the only standalone device capable of being distributed to the end customer that reduces the number of subscribers while growing ARPU," adds Orr.

The mobile routers also have the advantage of not consuming mobile data at the same rate as directly-connected devices -- meaning, users tend to interact with only one device at a time.

In 2016, rapid adoption of mobile hotspot routers will be rewarded with more than 60 million annual shipments and an approximate end-user revenue value exceeding $5 billion.

eBook Download Sales to Reach $9.7 Billion by 2016

According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, they found that continued strong growth in the eReader market, combined with an upsurge in usage across media tablets, will push annual revenues from eBooks delivered to portable devices to $9.7 billion by 2016 -- that's up from $3.2 billion this year.

The study found that the increasing demand for media tablets means that these devices will account for nearly 30 percent of all eBook downloads by 2016.

In addition to the higher rate of tablet penetration, eBook access on these devices has already been boosted by the launch of leading brand bookstore applications, such as Apple's iBookStore and Amazon's Kindle.

While mobile handsets currently account for the largest share of eBook downloads, the majority of these are comprised by the Japanese manga market. Elsewhere, smartphones are not -- and are unlikely to become -- a primary reading device.

However, bookstores are increasingly seeking to enable synchronised eBook content across multiple devices -- thereby allowing users to continue reading text on their smartphone when their eReader or media tablet is unavailable.

While the transition to eCommerce and to digital content delivery has had a negative impact on traditional bricks and mortar retailers, the Juniper report observed larger bookstore chains increasingly seeking to marry their online and in-store activities.

According to Dr Windsor Holden, at Juniper "The Barnes & Noble model has been to use its own brand eReader -- and its tablet application -- to act as a bridge between online and in-store purchases. The other chains are picking up on that, launching their own devices, offering digital coupons to be redeemed in-store, reinforcing the relationship with the consumer."

Other findings from the market study include:

• The adoption of the EPUB3 standard should create new markets for rich media titles -- enhanced eBooks -- across dedicated eReaders.
• Subscription pricing models are likely to proliferate amongst corporate and educational content.

Digital Media Publishers Preparing for 2012 Upside

The ongoing increase in media tablet, smartphone and eReader device adoption has stimulated demand for high-quality multimedia content -- including video, audio, interactive games, news, books and periodicals.

Digital media publishers have been busy re-purposing their archive content and are now ready to accelerate plans for new content development in 2012. The upside market opportunity is apparently unprecedented.

eMarketer estimates that the number of U.S. tablet users will reach 89.5 million in 2014 -- that's up from 33.7 million in 2011. Tablet users will make up 35.6 percent of internet users in 2014 -- that's up from 14.5 percent this year.

U.S. adult eReader users will reach 53.9 million by 2014 -- that's up from 33.3 million in 2011. eMarketer also expects robust growth in smartphone users, even though that product category is more mature than tablets and eReaders.

By 2015, there will be 148.6 million smartphone users in the U.S. -- that's up from 90.1 million in 2011. These users will represent 58 percent of mobile phone users in 2015 -- that's up from 38 percent this year.

Collectively, these devices create demand for software applications (apps), streaming video and audio, games, ebooks and periodicals, social networking and other marketer-supported activities.

Digital media availability has already skyrocketed to meet the demands of consumers with smart devices. These confluent trends should help U.S. online video advertising to more than triple over the next four years, according to eMarketer estimates.

The more consumers adopt new devices in 2012, the more they access new forms of digital content on every available screen -- and they expect the user experience to be familiar across devices and publishing platforms.

Those best suited to meet these user expectations will become the market leaders that can deliver hardware, software, digital content and social integration. The savvy marketers that will gain the most from this evolving multimedia content ecosystem are those that understand how to deliver the best possible experience across each platform.

Multiscreen Content Platforms to Reach $21 Billion

We're moving towards an online user experience where ubiquitous multiscreen connectivity will become the norm, and new portable digital devices enable the flexible personalization of all published multimedia content.

The early-adopters are already viewing consumer-produced and professional video programs on combinations of their media tablets, smartphones, netbook PCs or chromebooks. This multiscreen adoption trend will soon become a mainstream user activity.

As mobile devices continue to improve, every media consumer will expect high definition (HD) video on everything. The pay-TV services are ramping up TV Everywhere to compete with the leading direct-to-consumer OTT services -- such as Netflix, Amazon and Vudu.

As a result, the momentum behind multiscreen content delivery platforms is accelerating, and according to the latest market study by NPD In-Stat, they now forecast that revenues from multiscreen content platforms will exceed $21 billion by 2015.

"Consumers now expect to have professional video available on an ever-expanding number of devices, and they want their user experience to be under their control," said Gerry Kaufhold, Research Director at In-Stat.

It's no longer simply a matter of delivering 1080p 3D video to their device, they want to share what they are viewing with their connected community.

They want to upload their own additions to the content, and they want to be able to engage with their content on whatever device provides the best experience at any particular time.

Additional insights from the In-Stat study include:

• Asia Pacific will have the most active multiscreen households by 2015.
• Latin America, India, and emerging markets will primarily use mobile data services.
• The CAGR for viewing hours is expected to be about 88 percent from 2010 through 2015.
• Western Europe is expected to be a hot growth market for subscription-based multiscreen content delivery platforms.
• Direct-to-consumer services are the early revenue leader for multiscreen content delivery platforms, but price competition is expected in a few years from the pay-TV TV Everywhere services.
• 273 million households will be using some kind of multiscreen service by 2015.

How Video Chat App Usage Will Become Pervasive

Video chat via the Internet is an interactive communication service that has become increasingly common with PC users, but is now expanding to other consumer electronics screens -- including various mobile devices and connected TV sets.

Driven by the ease of use and improved video image quality, the growing consumer and business applications for video communication now seem unlimited.

While many of the video chat software apps can crossover between screen-types, the dynamics in each market are quite unique. Still, all industry players are expected to experience significant growth.

According to the latest market study by NPD In-Stat, they forecast the total number of active video calling users will surpass 380 million in 2015 -- that's a significant increase from the 63 million users in 2010.

"While the mobile arena is relatively nascent, it has fueled much of the growth in usage over the course of 2011," said Amy Cravens, Senior Analyst at In-Stat.

The entry of leading online industry players with significant market presence, such as Google, has been critical in pushing forward the mass adoption of video calling applications.

Currently, the living room market is still quite small. However, In-Stat expects to see significant developments in this market in the coming years.

Key insights from the In-Stat market study include:

• PC video chat will continue to account for the majority of video calling minutes throughout the forecast period.
• Skype is the market leader in video calling solutions across screen types: PC, mobile, and TV. 
• Integration with other applications, particularly social networking, will be a significant market driver. 
• Active usage rates vary significantly across screen types.