New research shows that the hybrid subset of the set top box market is the fastest growing subset and will continue to be so. The hybrid set top box is one that includes both a TV tuner (in the style of the traditional cable box, for example) and an Internet connection to facilitate access to various web content delivery services – think vehicles that combine both electric and gasoline engines for a somewhat apt analogy. 

These hybrid set top boxes are appearing rapidly in more and more service categories and the increase in applications and new models available has supplied momentum for their growth in popularity. More television providers and services are offering more applications that rely on Internet connection and this fact sets hybrid set top boxes as an important driving force for the international set top box sector. A release from instat.com presents research that suggests that over 100 million of these hybrid STBs will ship in 2015.

“As the STB industry continues its forward march, the next logical iteration is for the set top box to enhance and expand traditional TV-related services by permitting access to content from the Internet, or from Internet-like web services that provide a ‘walled garden’ of authorized content,” says Gerry Kaufhold, Research Director. “By combining traditional TV services with ‘enhancements’ that come in via broadband, content owners and service providers think they can successfully compete with all the emerging over-the-top approaches.”

The study also shows that in 2012, over 23 million of this type of device will ship in the United States, the Asia Pacific annual revenue will near $1.5 billion in 2015 and 58 percent of the set top box market in 2013 will be satellite hybrid set top boxes. 

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