OTT STB sales to only grow 20% in China in 2014

According to Digitimes Research, the number of OTT set-top boxes (STBs) sold in China grew by 20% in 2014, limited by restrictions imposed on OTT STB providers by the Chinese authorities.

In 2012, 1 million OTT STBs were sold in China, a number that grew spectacularly in 2013 to 10 million units, owing to the wide availability of content and apps. In the first half of 2014, the rapid growth continued. Then, the country’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television imposed a series of restrictions on the type of content and apps available via set-top boxes causing growth to stall, and leading to Digitimes forecast that the total number of OTT STBs sold will only reach 12 million units this year.