MUMBAI:  A-Pac rules and how. The Asia Pacific region is slated to overtake Western Europe as the second largest market for video on demand (VOD) services by 2020. And the growth in the region is going to be driven by the insatiable demand for smart phones in the fast growing economies of China and India.  The Asia Pacific VOD market is expected to touch revenues of $80.5 billion, fuelled additionally by the consumer hunger for pay TV services too in the region. From 13 per cent share of the global VOD sales in 2014, it is expected to rise to 22 per cent in the next five years. These are the findings of a US-based Future Market Insights (FMI) report released recently.

Titled Video on Demand (VoD) Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014-2020 the FMI report  states that the demand for pay-TV services will continue to remain strong during the forecast period 2014 to 2020. The study has stated on a global scale the VOD market will scale $263 billion by next year.

Popularity of Pay TV services, especially digital cable services, is increasing on account of deployment of 4K Ultra HD technology. Pay TV service providers are focusing on clubbing several advanced technologies, such as ITV and DVBS-2 based MPEG-4 video format with HD DTH. Integration of these technologies has given consumers a broad array of options to choose from, increasing the Pay TV subscriber base.

The report sub-segments the global VOD market into seven major regions in which North America and Western Europe are the two largest markets globally currently.

The North America VOD market is expected to surpass US$ 100 billion mark by the end of this year.  Proliferation of connected devices and increased spending on video services is expected to fuel the market in North America in the near future.

As is the global trend, pay TV services account for the bulk of the revenues in North America as well. Valued at US$ 91.6 billion in 2014, the Pay TV services market in North America is expected to reach US$ 103 billion by the end of 2016.

Cisco, SeaChange, Massive, and Pace are among the leading software players in the global VOD market whereas the leading service providers include Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, and Hulu.

The Western Europe VOD market is expected to reach a valuation of US$ 55.6 billion by the end of 2015. Demand for VOD services in Western Europe is growing at an annual rate of over 4%. The key players in the Western Europe VOD market include Agama Technologies, Exterity, Youview, BBC, and Orange.