Demand for paid and ad-supported broadband video will grow strongly to create
a multi-billion dollar industry over the next few years, experts predict.
A new study from
ABI
Research suggests that the growing reach of new distribution models will
expand the base of internet video consumers from roughly 300 million today to
nearly one billion by 2012.
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"Who pays for video online will largely be determined by who foots the bill
through existing models," said ABI Research director Michael Wolf.
"For broadcast television, including prime-time content, we anticipate that
ad support will be the primary engine of monetisation as this content moves
online.
"Movie content new to the home video window will be largely consumer
pay-supported.
"User-generated content will be ad-supported, as sites such as
YouTube
and social networking sites make increasing use of content produced by their own
users as a way to drastically increase their inventory of premium advertising
opportunities."
Wolf added that the expanding reach of new syndication networks and video "
super-portals" such as
Joost,
alongside established sites like
MySpace,
will rapidly enlarge the total user base for ad-supported video.
"We believe that pay-video adoption will grow through sites such as
iTunes
where consumer hardware platforms create end-to-end user experiences that enable
easy access to premium video," said Wolf.
"The growth of internet-connected hardware platforms will make direct
download of internet video to the TV a viable model in the coming years."
ABI Research also expects to see "significant growth" for enabling back-end
services such as video content management and publishing.
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