Analysts Expect Internet TV Revenue Growth

As the Internet evolves into the most ubiquitous video distribution platform ever known, iSuppli predicts the market for Internet TV service will rise to $5.79 billion in 2011, expanding by a factor of 14 from $422.7 million in 2006. As more consumer electronic devices like TVs, DVD players, game consoles, iPods and portable gadgets become web-connected, Internet TV will leap from computer screens into the consumer’s primary media environment: the living room TV, the company predicts. While news was the largest revenue category for advertising supporting professionally-produced Internet TV in 2006, it will be number three by 2009, behind sports and entertainment, according to iSuppli. Frank Dickson, principal analyst with iSuppli, said longer-form sports and entertainment content dominating Internet Protocol (IP) streams will drive revenue and bandwidth. The bandwidth required for Internet TV will grow by more than 44 times from 2006 to 2011 to almost 7 million Tebibytes (TiBs), the company forecasts. iSuppli defines Internet TV as professionally-produced mass-market video that is monetized via advertising and distributed through broadband Internet connections.