Akamai Forecasts Near Term Demand for Online HD

There is substantial near-term interest in launching HD broadband video, according to a survey broadcasters according to market intelligence firm Broadband Directions and commissioned by Akamai Technologies. Nearly 75 percent of respondents said they have plans to offer HD video content to their online audiences. In terms of timing, more than 80 percent of respondents with plans to offer HD content said they either already offered HD broadband video or intend to introduce it within the next 24 months. Fully half of respondents said they already offer it or intend to do so within the next 12 months.


While short-form (e.g. previews, news clips) HD content was being offered by close to half of respondents, long-form (e.g. movies, TV episodes, sporting events) was not far behind at 35 percent.


Akamai said that one way to interpret the relatively strong interest in long-form is that rights-holders of high-quality video programming (mainly TV networks and film studios), which tend to be highly focused on the user experience, are only now being drawn into broadband because HD is becoming economically and technically possible.


"Even six months ago, a 500 or 700 kilobit per second bitrate was pushing it," said Tim Napoleon, chief strategist, Media & Entertainment, at Akamai. "Now while 500-700 kbps is more of the norm, we're seeing companies really pushing the envelope with 1.5 -- 2 megabits per second and HD, in the ranges of up to 6 megabits per second bit rates, across our network. This is clearly an indication of consumer desire to experience higher quality content, and of content producers' efforts to meet those needs quickly."http://www.akamai.comhttp://www.thehdweb.com