Once viewed as a competitive necessity—though not necessarily a money-maker—on-demand programming from television set-top boxes is starting to make bucks for cable and satellite companies.
Revenue from multichannel delivery of video on demand, pay-per-view and near video on demand will reach $6 billion in five years, according to SNL Kagan's "Video-On-Demand: A Strategic and Economic Analysis" report.
SNL Kagan said that on-demand average revenue per user is expected to pass $5 a month in
2010.
"We're starting to see factors align that can enable operators to
translate the rise in on-demand traffic into more significant sales,"
said Ian Olgeirson, senior analyst at SNL Kagan.
SNL Kagan also said that a CPM model would evolve for on-demand sponsorship, since 95% of all VOD content
is free.