Although the number of video-on-demand (VOD) users continues to rise, a new report from In-stat/MDR says, consumer interest remains lukewarm due to pricing and content concerns.
A recent survey from the research group revealed that although 80% of US households were familiar with VOD services, the take-up rate was only 8%. In-stat said that this small percentage indicates that VOD will remain a niche cable service over the next few years.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom for VOD, In-stat has predicted that subscriptions will reach 17 million worldwide by 2008.
The main reason for the expected upsurge is that the current cost-per-stream for cable VOD service has fallen. Mike Paxton of Instat/MDR said: “Prices dropped to approximately $300, so most operators now consider the economics of provisioning VOD services to be favourable.”
Currently 99% of VOD users are in North America, with 50% of VOD systems being offered by cable TV systems. Service trials and deployment of VOD have been introduced in Europe and Asia over the past year.
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