Port Washington,
N.Y. – People connecting to broadband from locations outside of their homes
will reach 154 million by 2015, nearly equaling in-home users, according to a new
study.
The report, titled
“Broadband Video: On Demand, On the Go, and On the Rise,” is the first
Inflection Report from Connected Intelligence, a new service from The NPD Group.
The report said
that based on current trends, the number of in-home users is expected to reach
175 million by the end of 2015.
Mobile (on-the-go)
broadband video users are also expected to grow, though not as quickly as
out-of-home users.
There were
approximately 6 million mobile broadband video users at the end of 2010, a
number that is expected to grow to 77 million by the end of 2015.
“Over the next few
years, broadband video usage will predominantly be driven in the home by
Blu-ray players and connected televisions,” said Ross Rubin, NPD industry
analysis executive director and co-author of the report. “Handset
manufacturers, though, have opportunities to tailor devices and software to the
increasing prevalence of video.”
Pay TV will be
impacted by the growth of broadband video, but broadband video isn’t likely to
cause consumers to completely end their pay TV subscriptions, NPD said.
Only 4 percent of
consumers surveyed said they have completely given up pay-TV service, while 9
percent said they have reduced the amount they spent on pay TV in the past
year, and an additional 11 percent said they are likely to reduce their pay TV
in the next year.
“The reduction in
pay TV, or cord shaving, is really just a way for consumers to cut back on their
monthly entertainment bills for now,” said Linda Barrabee, NPD Connected
Intelligence research director and co-author of the report. “It actually sets
the stage later on for broadband video usage to grow as consumers get back into
the premium content market but look for less-expensive alternatives.”
