On-demand entertainment like gaming, videos, and music should see consumers spend more and more on them over the next five years, reaching $9 billion by 2010.
There will be a whole lot more fragging going on over the next few years. Parks Associates noted in a recent survey how spending for digital entertainment is on the rise.
2006 could be the year online video becomes more of a factor in that entertainment spending. Greater adoption of high speed Internet connectivity drives that demand for video and other broadband-suited options according to Parks Associates VP and principal analyst Kurt Scherf:
“Thanks to broadband proliferation and growing cooperation between content producers and other members of the digital entertainment value chain, we’ll see significant product and service announcements throughout 2006.”
Scherf indicated that the online video market – including such providers as Movielink, CinemaNow, Apple iTunes, and Akimbo Systems – will be active in 2006, as PC and consumer electronics manufacturers seek to expand their influence by offering more integrated networked solutions to end users.
Companies like Microsoft, HP, and Dell want to see their products at the center of this adoption. Microsoft offers a Media Center version of its Windows XP operating system; Dell and HP both ship hardware supporting a centralized media management solution.
The market for online entertainment will spend about $2.6 billion this year, rising 260 percent to nearly $9 billion in 2010, Scherf wrote. Global adoption of broadband and in-home networking equipment will increase as well through the period.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
