The number of households worldwide viewing HDTV is set to rise from 45 million today to 255 million in 2013, according to a study by IMS Research.
It estimates that 45 million households worldwide received HDTV service via Direct to Home (DTH), cable, IPTV and Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) at the end of 2007, with approximately the same number of HDTV sets shipping during the year.
But the report forecasts that those watching HDTV worldwide will soar to 255 million TV households by the end of 2013, including video households viewing only pre-recorded non-broadcast programs.
IMS also expects the Blu-ray Disc market to experience strong growth during the next five years, particularly as Blu-ray Disc drives in new PCs become more common, reaching a forecast US$46 billion in revenues in 2013.
Shane Walker, research analyst and author of the study, said DTH continues to be the leading platform for HDTV service uptake due to its rapid transition from analog to digital households and increased HD content availability.
He said HD DTH households are forecast to grow on average at 27.5 per cent annually, reaching 97 million households at the end of 2013.
The most significant service uptake is expected prior to 2010, after which time the HDTV household growth rate is expected to fall below 30 per cent annually.
“Approximately 62 per cent of the worldwide cable households are located in the Asia Pacific region,” he said.
“Because of this, the slow conversion from analog to digital cable TV service in the Asia Pacific region is significantly skewing the worldwide forecast for HD cable households.”
More details on the IMS Research study, The Worldwide Market for High-Definition TV Equipment & Services, are available at www.imsresearch.com
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