Shipment of hybrid set top boxes will reach 100 million units in 2015, the report said.
Hybrid set top boxes, which include a TV tuner and Internet connection, are appearing in all service categories and new usage models and applications have provided momentum, a report from In-Stat also said.
As television services begin employing applications that are Internet-connected, we see hybrid set top boxes emerging as a key growth driver for the global set top box industry, the research firm said.
“As the STB industry continues its forward march, the next logical iteration is for the set top box to enhance and expand traditional TV-related services by permitting access to content from the Internet, or from Internet-like web services that provide a ‘walled garden’ of authorized content,” said Gerry Kaufhold, research director. “By combining traditional TV services with ‘enhancements’ that come in via broadband, content owners and service providers think they can successfully compete with all the emerging over-the-top approaches.
Over 23 million hybrid STBs will ship in North America in 2012 and the Asia Pacific annual revenue will approach $1.5 billion in 2015, the report also said.