Consumer electronics devices that can integrate with home networks are set to deliver more than double the revenue in 2012 that they did in 2009, according to new market data from ABI Research. In 2009, worldwide revenue from these popular products was slightly over $100 billion; in 2012, that figure will exceed $243 billion.

The objective of understanding the market, of course, is so service providers like you can objectively measure which tactic to take as you work to dominate the home.

“Markets for connected home entertainment products have not been adversely affected by the global recession,” says ABI’s practice director Jason Blackwell. “In line with the conventional wisdom, consumers seemed more eager than ever during the economic decline to enhance their home entertainment options. Television sales in particular did very well in 2009.”

In addition to connected TVs, the most popular categories of network-ready CE devices include categories such as set-top boxes, and those showing dramatic growth from small beginnings, such as connected digital still cameras, digital media adaptors, and networked Blu-ray players.

Show Them the Money!
Kurt Scherf, an analyst in home-networking with Parks Associates recently authored a white paper: Broadband Services: The Turning Point. In it, Scherf examined the impact service provider-deployed home networking has on broadband households.

Scherf observed that the presence of centralized and remotely managed customer premises equipment offers multiple benefits. Service providers gain operational efficiencies and enhanced customer support capabilities, and the consumer can get a host of new whole-home and multi-device features.

The research also showed that the residential gateway will contribute to the longer-term benefit of reducing capital expenditures (CapEx) among pay-television operators, which can manage their video services through the RG to mediate different content and rights management formats and distribute signals to lower-cost customer premises equipment or CE. The RG’s ability to serve as an applications gateway will also grow in importance for operators looking to more quickly and readily deploy value-added services and upgrades.

Consumers will benefit from a managed home network by receiving advanced services that allow distribution of content to a variety of devices – both fixed and mobile – over multiple access networks. Applications such as home control and health management may also grow in importance, particularly as telehealth, energy management, and security functions rely to a greater extent on the two-way capabilities of broadband communications.

Households already equipped with a residential gateway or home networking solution from their broadband service provider are receptive to a variety of value-added services. The early market for value-added services that leverages the residential gateway for multiplatform access will be mainly technical support and lifestyle management services, including online backup. Over time, the long-term benefits will include near-limitless content options and home automation and health-related services.

Broadband service providers have a significant opportunity to offer digital home technical support services as value-added features to their subscribers. Telecom operators in particular find themselves in an envious position of consistently scoring higher ratings among customers for superior customer support. Broadband service providers rank the highest among potential technical support providers on a trust level.

What’s more, Parks research shows that broadband service providers tend to be among the first entities to receive a technical support phone call for home computer and home networking issues, regardless of whether they were responsible for deploying those products. As service providers seek to reduce so-called “out-of-scope” customer support calls, they have an opportunity to expand their overall service profile.

Given this, it’s not surprising to note that premium technical support services that include installation and in-home and remote troubleshooting services are one of the biggest value-added service opportunities for operators. A significant consideration in delivering these services is whether operators will build up infrastructure on their own or partner with experts who can roll trucks and/or deliver remote technical support using their own call centers.

The market for premium technical support services in the U.S. was over $3 billion in 2008 and is expected to double by 2013. Moreover, investments made by providers now in this area will pay even greater dividends later as they will truly enhance their ability to manage and deploy a variety of new and high-demand services to their subscribers in the future.

Sources:
1. www.abiresearch.com
2. Broadband Services: The Turning Point, a Parks Associates White Paper by Kurt Scherf, 2009. www.parksassociates.com
3. www.researchandmarkets.com

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