Over-The-Top VOD Boxes: An On-Demand TV Strategy For New Market Players In Europe

Until December 2008, Microsoft's Xbox360 and the Apple TV were the only way for Europeans to benefit from over-the-top (OTT) video-on-demand (VOD) services delivered to the TV set. In the short and medium term, standalone OTT VOD offers will become increasingly available in Europe. They will begin to compete with the video stores that come with Internet-enabled game consoles. With this in mind, consumer product strategists in charge of the development of standalone OTT VOD offers will have to target, as a priority, terrestrial TV countries and those households that only receive terrestrial TV. However, in the medium term, standalone OTT VOD services will have to evolve in a very tough competitive environment: Linear TV consumption remains strong; TV-based VOD offers are widely available on cable, satellite, and IPTV; and video game consoles deliver OTT VOD services. By 2013, it is likely that fewer households will have standalone VOD boxes than will have a game console to consume digital video content on demand.