A great deal of media attention is given to higher resolutions such as 4K (3840x2160 for UltraHD or industry standard of 4096x2160) and 2K (in the mobile space this equates to WQHD or 2560x1440), but the realities of the market suggest this attention is truly designed to create excitement around new hardware and then to push new video services. Even though some streaming and downloading services are starting to offer 4K content the industry is still entrenched in the SD and HD.
Difficulties monetizing multiscreen services and concerns around mobile data consumption have pushed many video services to favor lower resolutions/bitrates. The growing importance of mobile devices has also pushed adaptive streaming to the forefront, with HLS, Smooth Streaming, and HDS leading the market. The future for DASH is shaping up as planned but might not be the universal solution some had envisioned.
In this report we explore some of these market dynamics and provide expectations around pay TV multiscreen households (by region: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East Africa).