Apple iTunes creates video 'big bang'

The online video market has been kick started by Apple's move

The momentum created by Apple's announcement last year that it would sell videos online through iTunes created a " big bang" that will continue into 2006, industry watchers predicted today.

While ABI Research acknowledged that the push to online video had started long before the launch of the video iPod, the analyst firm argued that the online video market was kick started with Apple's announcement.

Mike Wolf, principal analyst for broadband and multimedia at ABI Research, pointed out that gadgets took a backseat at this year's Consumer Electronics Show to the announcements by large online and content players such as Apple.

"The flood of online content announcements from Google, Yahoo and others shows that, after years of hesitation from the larger media players, the market for premium content online is finally beginning to take shape," he said.

ABI's report noted that recent video offerings include those from Starz and Google. Nearly two years after announcing its Starz Ticket on Real, Starz launched its own premium movie subscription plan as Vongo, a $10 a month all-you-can-eat video download service.

Starz is partnering with Microsoft for Vongo, using WMV and Windows DRM to deliver the content to Windows MCE PCs and Windows Portable Media Center devices.