Market Trends

London, UK,  December 5, 2012--Informa Telecoms and Media forecasts that the OTT video market will be worth over US$37 billion in 2017. However, advertising will still be a larger revenue-generator than subscriptions in the OTT-video market in 2017, highlighting its continued immaturity. Although US$37 billion is an eye-catching number, OTT remains a small proportion of total TV and video revenues.

London, UK, December 4, 2012--COMSYS released the thrid edition of its Maritime VSAT report. The report projects vigorous growth in the maritime VSAT market, forecasting that the number of vessels in service will double by 2016, bringing the total number of VSATs in service to more than 26,000. Market revenue expanded 9% in 2010 and 2011 and is now close to $1 billion, due to increased demand for bandwidth.

Amman, Jordan, November 29, 2012--A new report, entitled “Privatization Levels in Arab Cellular Markets” was released by the Arab Advisors Group analyzing the ownership structure and revenues of all cellular operators in fifteen Arab countries. The analysis aimed at examining the "actual" level of privatization and state ownership in each country measured by the proportionate share of each operator of total cellular market revenues. The analysis revealed that the Palestinian, Syrian and Kuwaiti cellular markets are the most privatized markets.

London, UK, November 28, 2012 – Over 220 million Smart TV sets will be sold worldwide in 2017, up from the 54 million that will be sold in 2012, according to Informa Telecoms & Media’s latest Smart TV device forecasts. 31% of households worldwide will own at least one Smart TV in five years time, according to Informa, with household penetration much higher in North America (63%) and Western Europe (64%).

London, UK, November 22, 2012 -According to the latest forecasts from Informa Telecoms & Media, the global online-video market will be worth US$37 billion in 2017, driven by the popularity of services like Netflix and YouTube. This figure is made up of the three key video-revenue streams of advertising, subscriptions and transactions. Despite the market maturing, advertising will continue to be a larger revenue generator than subscriptions in 2017, as it is in 2012.

Stockholm, Sweden, November 21, 2012--The latest Ericsson Mobility Report, formerly known as the Ericsson Traffic and Market Report, reveals that approximately 40 percent of all phones sold in Q3 were smartphones. Data traffic doubled between Q3 2011 and Q3 2012, and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 50 percent between 2012 and 2018, driven mainly by video.

Amman, Jordan, November 8, 2012--As of the end of the first quarter 2012,  mobile operators in nineteen Arab countries had 367.5 million cellular lines, up from 362 million at yearend 2011, a growth of 1.5%, according to new report from Arab Advisors Group which analyzes and ranks cellular operators in the Arab World. The three cellular operators in Egypt; Vodafone, Mobinil and Etisalat were the largest Arab cellular operators in terms of subscriptions by end of March 2012.

Scottsdale, Ariz.,  November 2, 2012-- By 2017 ABI Research expects over-the-top (OTT) revenue to quadruple to $32 billion, up from the expected $8.2 billion in 2012. Subscription services, like Netflix, have led the OTT markets the past couple of years, which has helped push the market towards healthy growth. By 2014, however, ABI Research expects OTT rentals to surpass subscription revenues.