OTT Video Services See Opportunity to Differentiate with 1080p and Ultra HD

​4K or Ultra HD is the future, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint to higher resolutions. And while 1080p TV screens are the norm and mobile screen resolutions continue to climb, plenty of streamed HD content is still distributed in 720p or lower. Over-the-top (OTT) services such as Netflix, VUDU, and M-GO, which exclusively distribute content over the Internet, are more eager to embrace 1080p and Ultra HD for connected CE devices in order to appear more innovative. Meanwhile, traditional distributors, with regards to TV Everywhere content, are more likely to settle for 720p as they consider smartphones and tablets the primary targets; continuing to leverage existing Pay TV services as their ‘main’ distribution channel for TVs – OTT operators likewise favor lower resolutions for mobile devices.

Senior analyst Michael Inouye commented, “We expect Pay TV operators will seriously consider 4K movie services over IP connections directly to smart TVs, bypassing the set-top box. This will allow them to compete with OTT providers on feature set before rolling out 4K capable set-top boxes in 2015 to 2017. With the TV Everywhere household user base expanding from 4% (worldwide) in 2013 to over 20% by 2019, a number of consumers will be ready for these services.”

Practice director Sam Rosen added, “TV Manufacturers, such as Samsung and Sony, are doing everything in their power to seed the market with 4K content and services in order to convince consumers to purchase higher priced and higher margin 4K TV sets. Sony, with its motion picture division, is in a good position and has released a significant amount of remastered content on a download-based movie player. Meanwhile, Samsung in a similar fashion offered early adopters a free USB HDD with two full-length 4K videos and additional 4K clips.“

These findings are part of ABI Research’s Mobile, Multiscreen, and Cloud Video Delivery.

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