BluRay redefining OTT market

Source: Connected Planet

BluRay players could quickly take the place of gaming consoles as the largest conduit of over-the-top Web services to the home. According to The Diffusion Group senior partner Colin Dixon, BluRay devices are growing in popularity, offering consumers either an alternative or supplement to traditional pay TV services.

The past two years have seen a huge acceleration in quantum media, what TDG defines as consumers’ ability to control where, when and on what they watch TV. Dixon started his presentation at the OTTCon pre-conference yesterday by looking back to 1960 and the start of appointment TV. Now new services that come to market are deconstructing the appointment concept at an accelerating pace, promising to transform the market again.

“TV is the thing that will change the most over the next two years,” Dixon said. The number of broadband-enabled TV households will grow from 128 million today to more than 360 million by 2014. Of these households, many will have multiple devices. BluRay was one of the latest devices to emerge, preceded by TiVo, the wildly popular gaming console market, the PC, Internet set-top boxes and digital media adapters, a category that is dead today for all intents and purposes.

BluRay only gained in popularity towards the end of 2009, because the price dropped dramatically around the holiday sales. “The big news here is that BluRay is now a slam dunk,” Dixon said, adding that Internet connected
BluRays, popular replacement devices for DVD players, start around $79 today.

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