“The STB market has certainly grown since 2007, when Steve Jobs originally described the Apple TV business line as a hobby,” Daniel Simmons, director of connected home for IHS Technology, says. “Now we’re seeing sales of Apple’s consumer devices in the millions, which has catapulted the company ahead of leading STB manufacturers that ship to pay TV providers. Apple TV’s particular success is a result of translating consumption habits from across Apple’s wider device ecosystem onto the TV screen.”
Recent IHS research shows that Apple TV devices took the third place position in 2015, based on revenue in the overall global set-top market. That’s up from ninth place in 2014.
The research firm credits Apple TV’s upwards trajectory with robust growth in consumer retail OTT boxes, and the consolidation in the set-top box market with the Arris acquisition of Pace and Technicolor’s acquisition of Cisco’s STB division. More than 10 million Apple TVs were shipped in 2015 — the fifth largest volume in the world — following Arris, Technicolor, and Skyworth and ZTE, according to IHS.
In 2015, global set-top box shipments grew 4.8 percent, year over year, to reach 353 million units, according to the IHS “Set-Top Box Intelligence Market Monitor.” This was reportedly driven by IPTV in China, where telecommunications companies are pushing IPTV services to generate returns on FTTH investments. Revenue increased by 3.4 percent to reach $5.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared to the previous quarter, partially driven by next-gen device launches of Apple, Amazon and Roku. Revenue for 2015 reportedly fell 5.4 percent to $22.2 billion, due to reduced demand for high value STBs in North America.
“As retail STBs have grown in the market, traditional pay TV set-top vendors have been forced to reposition themselves, with significant consolidation at the top of the market, diversification toward software and services in the middle and low-end vendors moving toward broader volume,” Simmons adds.
