Driven by tablet usage at home and on the go, consumers in the United States alone will access seven hours of video each day – as opposed to 4.8 hours today, according to a new study from Bell Labs. The research points to a dramatic shift in viewing habits, as consumers switch from broadcast content to video-on-demand services, which will grow to 70% of daily consumption compared with 33% today.
Some highlights of the 16-page report:
- The proportion of time spent watching managed video-on-demand services and web-based video will grow from 33% to 77%. This will come at the expense of traditional broadcast TV services, whose relative share of time will drop from 66% to 10%.
- Internet-based video consumption each year will grow twelvefold, from 90 Exabytes to 1.1 Zettabyes.
- Consumption of managed video-on-demand from services providers versus OTTs is expected grow at 28 percent annual rate, from 44 Exabytes to 244 Exabytes.
- 10.5% of managed video consumption and 8.5% of OTT video consumption will occur at the peak hour, 8:00 p.m.
Bell Labs is warning that this shift to unicast distribution will put disproportionate pressure on the IP edge of broadband networks.
“Delivery of video from the cloud and from content delivery networks to tablets, TVs and smartphones – with guaranteed quality -, presents an exciting new revenue opportunity for communications service providers, but only if they are prepared to take advantage of it. Left unmanaged, the rapid growth in video traffic can turn into a deluge and spell disaster. It is important to look at where service providers’ investments can have the most impact, and this research makes clear that the IP edge of both wireline and wireless networks – which are increasingly becoming one and the same – offers the greatest opportunity to improve network performance. At the same time, it also presents the greatest source of risk if not managed appropriately,” stated Marcus Weldon, Chief Technology Officer, Alcatel-Lucent.
The full paper is available here:
