OTT Device Shipments Are Booming, Says IHS

Shipments of devices capable of playing over-the-top (OTT) content -- including set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, connected TVs, gaming consoles, and even tablets, smartphones, and desktop computers -- will grow 20 percent in 2013, says business analysis company IHS. Manufacturers shipped 1.43 billion OTT-capable devices in 2012, and will ship 1.7 billion this year. IHS notes that those are enough OTT devices to equip nearly one-quarter of the people on the planet.

IHS says that the OTT device market should grow by another 20 percent next year, as well, heading for 2.67 billion devices shipped in 2017.

While this sounds like a boom for set-top boxes, IHS notes that most of this growth is coming from computers and smartphones. Those two categories account for 836 million of the 1.43 billion OTT-capable devices shipped in 2012. Excluding computers and smartphones shows that 480 million devices will ship this year, which is an increase of 30 percent from 2012.

“Content owners, operators, and consumers all are driving the proliferation of the OTT model,” says Jordan Selburn, senior principal analyst for consumer platforms at IHS.

The only category to show a decline is handheld gaming platforms. Single-task systems, IHS says, are under heavy attack from smartphones and tablets.

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