On-Demand Services Poised To Revive Interest In Interactive TV.

After several years of hype and false starts, the worldwide interactive TV (iTV) market is finally beginning to take shape, according to Cahners In-Stat/MDR. The research firm reports that despite the fact that iTV still must overcome some formidable obstacles, including a broad misunderstanding of exactly what iTV is, the market is poised for growth, particularly in North America.

“After years of trials and tentative service introductions, the past year has seen interactive services become a common
sight on most pay-TV networks. Cable TV operators, terrestrial broadcasters, and satellite TV providers have all been active in testing different interactive applications in the quest to increase average subscriber revenues,” says Mike Paxton, a Senior Analyst with In-Stat/MDR. “The expanded capabilities that two-way, digital transmission networks offer to both subscribers and service providers have resulted in greater penetration of interactive applications like Electronic Programming Guides and Video-on-Demand.”

In-Stat/MDR also found that:

– Of all the different iTV applications, “on-demand” applications, like video-on-demand and personal video recording, have sparked the most industry interest due to their great potential for adoption by today’s TV viewers. The number of television households using on-demand services worldwide will jump from 1.3 million in 2001 to over 33 million in 2005.

– North American Video-on-Demand service revenues are forecasted to grow from $86 million in 2001 to over $1.75 billion in 2005.

– In a recent survey of consumers, 75% of the respondents were familiar with several different iTV applications, but had rarely or never used them.

For more information at http://www.instat.com