Study Shows Home Media Streaming Growing But Not There Yet

Not that it is much of a surprise to anyone that follows this area of technology, but the mainstream has yet to catch onto media streaming. We have seen a lot of headway with products like AppleTV and the Slingbox, but still most people listen to their music either with CDs or with a MP3 player and watch their movies via DVD. People haven't caught onto the world of streaming media. This is mostly because there is yet that killer product. The iPod single handedly brought MP3s to the masses. MP3 players existed before the iPod, but it was only techie geeks for the most part that used them. Well the media streaming market is still waiting for their iPod. Sure AppleTV has done a good job, but it still isn't taking off like some expected it to. Maybe with the addition of movie rentals it will, we'll see. I think it comes down to two things: no one has yet made a simple, elegant easy to use media streamer that just works and two the media companies have made it very difficult for people to use their content how they like.

The rental market will have to go through some growing pains as it tries to figure out the best model to give to their customers. I think it is still going to take at least 3 more years for truly great products to become available. We came across a very cool study over at ehomeupgrade about the projected rise of the in home media server market. It basically says that it is growing fast, but it still isn't there yet. They also mention that in the next 3 years we should see very rapid growth in the adoption of these technologies. Check out after the jump for the full press release.

via ehomeupgrade

We are in the multimedia phase of home networking that has begun to blend in networked consumer electronics (CE) devices, or networked media devices, reports In-Stat. The market has been trying to move past the early adopter stage, but this has not been occurring very quickly, the high-tech market research firm says. Although In-Stat's consumer research shows that there has been progress, the majority of consumers still only use their home network for Internet sharing.

"Improvement is still needed when it comes to consumer awareness of the new breed of PC and non-PC network-capable media devices (Media Center PCs, CE media servers, digital media adapters, digital media receivers/players, and other networked CE devices)," says Joyce Putscher, In-Stat analyst. "To date, non-PC network-enabled stationary media devices have been dominated by game consoles. However, the vast majority of non-PC network-enabled stationary devices are not currently used to stream audio and video multimedia streams from room to room."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

Worldwide media server-capable device shipments will grow by a 43% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2006 to 2011.
The worldwide market for basic media server shipments to be placed in home networks within one year is expected to grow by 62% from 2006 to 2011.
Global home networks with at least one PC and at least one networked CE device will grow by about 100% in 2008.

Recent In-Stat research, Global Networked Media Clients & Servers to See More Competition From Traditional Entertainment Component Vendors (#IN0703464RC), covers the worldwide market for home networking. The focus of this research is multimedia functionality that bridges the gap between the network established for PCs and non-PC stationary CE devices in the home. Worldwide forecasts through 2011 for each market segment are provided, from consumer PCs to non-PC network-enabled stationary media devices. Non-PC forecasts provide network-enabled units and segmentations for wired-only and wireless. Included is the worldwide installed base of home networks and those networks with PC and CE devices. Details are provided for PCs with a Media Center-enabled OS, basic media servers, PCs with a Media Center-enabled OS plus TV, non-PC devices with embedded media servers (e.g., set top boxes, digital media adapters/digital media receivers, network storage, etc.), and total media server-capable devices. Consumer survey results related to digital home multimedia networking are also included.

For more information on this research or to purchase it online, please visit: http://www.instat.com/catalog/mmcatalogue.asp?id=99.

February 22, 2008

Study Shows Home Media Streaming Growing But Not There Yet