A jump in video equipment spending is forecast as operators respond to the need to deliver content to a range of devices, according to market research firm Infonetics Research, who also rank Cisco as number 1in the STB market.

Commenting on the firm’s new video report, Video-on-Demand (VoD) and Encoder Equipment and Video Subscribers, Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and pay-TV, noted that operators are being extremely cautious with their video infrastructure spending right now, looking to sweat their assets as much as they can knowing that a spending spree looms on the horizon to support more unicast and multi-screen services, including RS-DVR, start-over, look-back, and streaming delivery to mobile devices. “We expect a noticeable jump in video equipment spending in 2013,” he advised.

Among the 3Q12 VoD and encoder market highlights:

• Infonetics has increased its long-term forecast for the overall video infrastructure market to $1.1 billion by 2016, as operators worldwide migrate to MPEG-4 HD encoders to support higher picture quality using less bandwidth and as multi-screen services take off
• For the quarter, VoD and encoder equipment revenue fell 3 per cent in 3Q12 from 2Q12, with all regions declining by single digits
• Following two consecutive quarters of declines, spending on VoD and streaming content servers grew 1.8 per cent in 3Q12
• Infonetics forecasts the number of IPTV subscribers to nearly double between 2012 and 2016, from 83 million to 165 million worldwide

Commenting on Infonetics’ Set-Top Boxes and Subscribers report, Heynen said the firm had increased its long-term overall STB forecast, mainly resulting from a pick-up in the pace of cable and satellite STB shipments in the Asia Pacific region, principally in China and India. “Infonetics expects the global STB market to grow to $16.6 billion in 2016,” he noted.

Among the STB market highlights:

• Worldwide set-top box revenue was essentially flat in 3Q12, totalling $3.7 billion
• Cisco held serve as the cable set-top box market share leader for the second straight quarter, beating out Motorola by a hair
• The IP set-top box segment grew the most in 3Q12, with revenue up 27 per cent from the previous quarter
• 45 per cent of all set-top boxes shipped now have HD capabilities

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