AOL, Google, Yahoo, MSN and Apple move TV onto the web

Although Online Content Aggregators are in the early experimentation stages of rolling out video services, they are poised to enjoy dramatic revenue-generating opportunities in the next five years, industry experts have predicted.

According to In-Stat, the worldwide market for online content services is expected to expand by a factor of 10, growing from about 13 million households during 2005 to more than 131 million households by 2010, the high-tech market research firm says.

"AOL, Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Apple, major Broadcast TV networks, Pay-TV services and local TV stations are all working on ways to blend their video assets with personalised TV services," said Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst.

"The future of television is slowly being defined online, where the big internet portals are finding ways to blend professional video with their high-touch services that follow consumers from screen to screen during the course of a typical day."

The In-Stat study, Online Content Aggregators – AOL, Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Apple – Slowly Defining the Future of Television, found that worldwide broadband households will more than double between 2005 and 2010, growing from about 194 million in 2005 to more than 413 million by 2010.

Of all US broadband households today, 12.8 per cent are already regularly viewing professional content via Online Content Aggregators, the study reported.

It added that traditional broadcast TV networks are finally figuring out that they need to capitalise on "all this personalisation stuff" or they will have deep trouble ahead.

The Pay-TV services have realised that personalisation is the trend for the future, and they will not be left behind while TV keeps expanding onto the internet, In-Stat stated.