Move Over Cable, IPTV is Coming
By Anna Johnson on July 21st, 2008Actually IPTV – Internet protocol television – is well and truly here. It just hasn’t got anywhere near the presence in people’s homes as does cable TV. But IPTV is growing.
The big telecommunications companies, Verizon and AT&T, are introducing IPTV services in the United States and eMarketer predicts IPTV subscribers to jump from 3.3 million in 2008 to a significant 12.7 million in 2012.
IPTV is a system whereby digital television content is delivered via Internet protocol. As opposed to “Internet TV” which relies on the Internet, IPTV uses proprietary network infrastructure, such as that of a telecommunications provider. From a consumer’s point of view the chief difference is that while relying on the Internet means access to television content is subject to the vagaries of one’s Internet connection, with IPTV, the telco providing the network is able to control and ensure delivery of such content.
From a marketer’s point of view, IPTV offers similar targeting opportunities as does the Internet – both content and advertising can be customized for, and based on, niche target markets.
Source: eMarketer, “Broadband Boom Lifts IPTV”, eMarketer, July 17, 2008
