Mike

29% growth rate over next five years

Streaming video and music will bring in $70 billion in revenue over the next six years according to a new study from Insight Research," Streaming Media, IPTV, and Broadband Transport: Telecommunications Carriers and Entertainment Services 2008-2013."

This covers revenues generated from digital audio and video files over the Internet, an IPTV network and mobile devices. The files can be streamed on-de3mand or in real time, but cannot be stored locally.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/industry-news/454219-streaming-media-to-reach-70-billion.html

Revenues will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 29 percent over the next five years. On-demand audio and video content along with their advertising revenue will drive this growth.

"The outlook for streaming media has never been brighter. Questions surrounding consumers' willingness to pay for content have been dispelled by the popularity of satellite radio and iTunes," says Robert Rosenberg, Insight Research president.

"The forecasts that we present are conservative, and in-line with current performance. If, however, per-stream costs drop faster than anticipated, we have quicker acceptance of IPTV, or improvements in 3G delivery take place faster than expected, it could blow the doors off of our forecasts, propelling this industry into explosive growth," Rosenberg added.
Source: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/20...ach-70-billion
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Bottom line: if you're not already having video elements on your site, get them asap! Then you just have to make a decision whether you're pulling content from another provider (e.g Youtube) or if you start hosting and eventually producing yourself? The latter would certainly give you more authenticity, better options to sell advertising and more revenue in the long run.

M.

RareIQ

Huge Industry indeed