Emerging Media Dynamics has a report out claiming that 20% of broadband homes (roughly 12 million households) will have media extenders by the end of this year. Anybody else astounded by that number?
The report is including in this category devices like Apple TV, the Xbox 360 and Sling’s SlingCatcher. All of these products are brand new so it utterly shocks me that 12 million people will have them by the end of 2007. Wishful thinking?
Well we’ve got several million Xbox 360s deployed, several hundred thousand broadband-connected TiVos, and presumably several hundred thousand Apple TVs. Add in the Netgear, DLink, Buffalo, Linksys, etc geeky extenders and we could be 2/3 of the way there. Are they also including Wiis? Depending how the define the devices, it could be possible…
Considering the gaming consoles, I wonder if they are counting consoles actually connected and used as a media extender.
I have a 360 and do use it as a media center extender. Its great! However, I know this feature is not usually taken advantage of even in homes that have a 360 and media center PC. Most people don’t even know the 360 has that kind of functionality.
SlingCatcher is out?
Not out, but I’m not at liberty to disclose sales estimates. ;)
Hi,
Cynthia Brumfield here, author of the report. Just to clarify, the term we used was “Internet TV-capable” devices, and it does include everything, including gaming consoles, DLink, Netgear, etc.
Not all of these devices are actually used for the purpose of receiving Internet TV, either via some form of networking or directly download (such as with the Xbox 360). The report notes that only a tiny fraction are probably being used to watch some form of Internet-delivered TV (and not all of this is via “extenders”).
Cynthia B.
Many thanks for the clarifications, Cynthia.