The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) standard is the driving force behind the growth in home networking devices, and in the third quarter of this year, MoCA set-top box sales increased 33 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago.

A recent report by Infonetics Research found that MoCA is the fastest-growing consumer home networking technology in the world. With coaxial cable already in homes, MoCA has been an easy choice for pay-TV providers such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Verizon, DirecTV, Dish Network and Rogers Communications.

“Among the wide variety of gear we track for our home networking devices report, the devices growing at the fastest rate have one thing in common: multimedia over coax,” said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research. “MoCA set-top boxes and adapters continue to show sustained growth in North America, where DirecTV, Dish Network and a growing list of cable companies are rolling out whole-home DVR and video gateway services.

“While we’re still in the early stages of MoCA device growth, we expect MoCA to become the de facto wired technology for video distribution to devices in the home. Going forward, multi-screen video will be a key driver for MoCA.”

Other highlights from the report included:

• Infonetics forecasts a cumulative $46 billion to be spent on consumer home networking devices over the five years from 2012 to 2016.
• Consumer residential gateways sales grew 12 percent in the first half of 2012 over the second half of 2011.
• Consumer home networking device leaders Netgear and D-Link increased their global revenue market share in the first half of 2012, while Pace surged into third place.