Smart Home Revenues to Reach $71 Billion by 2018, Juniper Research Finds

HAMPSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM–(Marketwired – Feb 11, 2014) – A new report from Juniper Research forecasts that revenues generated from Smart Home services are set to reach a global market value of $71 billion by 2018, rising from $33 billion last year.

The new report — ‘Smart Home Ecosystems & the Internet of Things’ — found that nearly 80% of total Smart Home service revenues will come from entertainment services by the end of the forecast period. As connection speeds have increased, service providers are able to offer greater volumes of content, delivered with increasing convenience.

According to the report, growth has been spurred by the emergence of high-profile OTT (Over-The-Top) content providers such as Netflix, LOVEFiLM and Amazon Instant Video, while demand is being further fuelled by mass adoption of connected TVs. While the smart TV market is just beginning to take hold, the Set-Top Box and the console remain popular options for users to connect their TVs to the Internet and access both subscription services as well as pay-per-view, download-to-own and rentals.

Maintaining the Smart Home Connection

The report found that 4K video services — and an array of ‘Internet of Things’ smart home devices — will place the network under additional strain. Hence, stakeholders will need to rapidly ensure that their networks are modernised and transitioned from legacy technologies such as IPv4 and CGNAT if they are to remain a viable player in meeting consumers’ expectations.

Other key findings include:

• Industry collaboration between stakeholders is crucial to realising the potential of the ‘Internet of Things’; no single stakeholder is likely to be able to dominate thanks to the number of verticals within the home.
• Security and Control elements of the Smart Home will reveal a service provider opportunity approaching $12 billion by 2018 as automation elements are added to service propositions. Nevertheless, providers must examine the real ‘value add’ in order to capitalise on this market.

The whitepaper, ‘Smart Homes ~ It’s an Internet of Things Thing,’ is available to download from the Juniper Research website together with full details of the report.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.