Nomadic Broadband Video Usage Expected to Close In On In-Home Usage by 2015

PORT WASHINGTON, New York — By 2015, nomadic (fixed locations outside the home, such as coffee shops) broadband video users will reach 154 million nearing in-home users according to a new report, Broadband Video: On Demand, On the Go, and On the Rise. The report is the first Inflection Report from Connected Intelligence, a new service from leading market research company The NPD Group, which analyzes the confluence of connected devices, access, and content. By the end of 2015, the number of in-home users is expected to reach 175 million.

Mobile (on-the-go) broadband video users are also expected to grow though not as quickly as nomadic users. There were approximately 6 million mobile broadband video users at the end of 2010, a number that is expected to grow to 77 million by the end of 2015.

“Over the next few years, broadband video usage will predominantly be driven in the home by Blu-ray players and connected televisions,” said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis at NPD, and co-author of the report. “Handset manufacturers, though, have opportunities to tailor devices and software to the increasing prevalence of video.”

Pay TV will be impacted by the growth of broadband video, but broadband video isn’t likely to cause consumers to completely end their pay TV subscriptions. Only 4 percent of consumers surveyed say they have completely given up pay TV service. There are more consumers, however, who are cutting back. Nine percent of consumers surveyed said they have reduced the amount they spent on pay TV in the past year, and an additional 11 percent said they are likely to reduce their pay TV in the next year.

“The reduction in pay TV, or cord shaving, is really just a way for consumers to cut back on their monthly entertainment bills, for now,” said Linda Barrabee, research director, Connected Intelligence at NPD and co-author of the report. “It actually sets the stage later on for broadband video usage to grow as consumers get back into the premium content market but look for less expensive alternatives.”

Methodology

Connected Intelligence uses a top-down, bottom-up approach to forecasting broadband video users. The forecast methodology for broadband video users is based on the addressable market (installed base) of available devices for in-home and out-of-home and video users across available installed base of devices in-home and out-of home.