Over-the-top (OTT) video is forecast to be an US$8 billion industry in the Asia Pacific region by 2020, up from the current $3 billion mark, according to a board member of the regional pay-TV industry body CASBAA.
Speaking at the CASBAA OTT Summit 2015 in Singapore, Christine Fellowes of CASBAA's OTT & Connected Media Group, said: "Currently fixed broadband in Asia Pacific is at 35% household penetration. Mobile broadband subs powered by 3G and 4G networks are at 866 million today and will expand to reach almost two billion subs in just five years.
"While linear television will remain the driving force for some time, OTT is currently a US$3 billion industry in Asia Pacific and forecast to be $8 billion by 2020," added Fellowes, who is also MD, Asia Pacific, Universal Networks International.
OTT should be deemed more of an opportunity than a threat for other players in the television industry, she told the 200 delegates.
"OTT is being leveraged by free broadcasters, pay-TV providers and pay-TV platforms too, but discrepancies between markets in the Asia Pacific region are phenomenal and, as a result, OTT in some markets will have a much longer trajectory than in more developed markets," said Wangxing Zhao, associate research analyst, SNL Kagan.
"Netflix has proven that OTT is more about getting new subscribers for the TV industry, rather than cannibalising existing ones."
However, realising OTT revenues still needs to be improved in an area beset by content piracy, delegates heard.
"Evidence confirms that the main reason people pirate is because it is free, and I don't think the industry alone can remedy this simply by putting more content options out there, without substantial help from the authorities in more actively enforcing copyright," said Matt Pollins, media lawyer, Olswang Asia.
"In many Asian markets there are services flagrantly infringing copyright in broad daylight without any real risk of enforcement," Pollins warned.
Although not as topical as in the US at present, delegates heard that net neutrality could become an Asian issue in the future, as decisions are made as to who pays for the bandwidth needed to deliver online content provided by the likes of YouTube and Netflix.
Ultimately, delegates agreed old business models must evolve.
David Habben, chief media strategist, Akamai Technologies, summed this up, concluding: "Change is the thing that will define this industry, and those who can manage that best will succeed."
