Global subscriptions to internet Protocol television (IPTV) are set to hit 19.6 million by the end of this year, up 64.1% compared to 2007.

New research by Gartner projects IPTV revenues for 2008 to hit $4.5 billion.

This is a huge increase on the 2007 total of $2.7 billion.

Over the next four years subscriptions are expected to more than double again.

Currently, 1.1% of households worldwide have an IPTV subscription.

According to Gartner, this figure will increase to 2.8% by 2012 with global revenues of $19 billion, more than four times the project revenues for 2008.

The increase in subscriptions is being driven by new providers, as well as growth in consumer demand for video.

Internet video portals such as YouTube and Joost are becoming increasingly popular, whilst social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have also introduced video services.

Device manufacturers are also on board, with sites such as NeuLion and AppleTV.

A number of broadcasters, including the BBC, NBC, and Fox, have started making their programming available for internet download.

In addition, video rental services such as Amazon, Netflix and Blockbuster have set up on-demand movie rental direct to customer’s television sets.

Gartner found significant regional differences in IPTV subscriptions.

Western Europe has the highest number of IPTV subscribers, with 8.2 million users predicted by the end of 2008, set to grow to 18.8 million by 2012.

North America, on the other hand, is the biggest market for IPTV revenue.

North America’s IPTV revenue for this year is forecast at $2 billion, and is set to grow to $8 billion by 2012.

IPTV, as defined by Gartner, is a managed broadband network that offers high picture-quality television and video content direct to a user’s TV set via a set top box.

TV programmes and video accessed from a home computer are not included in Gartner’s analysis.

Source:iptv-watch