'IPTV Now a Must-Have in Hospitality,' Says New Report

More than 11 million hotel rooms and 1 million airline seats are potential IPTV applications, according to a new report from MRG, Inc. Hotels and airlines alone account for a US$1.9 billion global market in 2012, indicating that for most hospitality applications, analog video is dead.

The new report from MRG shows that both in-room entertainment and in-flight entertainment (IRE and IFE) markets show a sharp shift in user expectations. "While respondents indicated that IPTV may be too expensive for the low-end market, the study finds that there is a substantial and growing need for IPTV to serve the mid- and high-end of the hospitality market. This has gone from a nice-to-have to a must-have situation," says Mike Galli, IPTV Analyst for MRG, Inc.

"This report pinpoints growth opportunities in this industry throughout the product and services value chain," states Mr. Galli. "While many in the IPTV industry consider hospitality to be unimportant, we found that it is very important, with some IPTV suppliers reporting that it represents 25% of their total revenue. There are specific opportunities in a variety of hospitality segments including hotels, dormitories, hospitals and aircraft, and this report helps to clearly identify where they are in each segment."

One key benefit of IPTV is superior remote operation and diagnosis, meaning double- or triple-play systems can be monitored from off-site, resulting in huge OpEx savings for the Hospitality Operator. For example, one hospital's IPTV system frees nurses from explaining to patients how to use the system. Other examples show how hotels using both VOD systems and e-com are able to generate far more revenue from e-com and advertising than from Pay-per-View.

"This report is the only one available that measures the global IPTV Hospitality Market," says Gary Schultz, MRG President. "It also shows how IPTV meets today's needs far better than older analog or digital video solutions."

"IPTV Global Hospitality (In-Room and In-Flight Entertainment) Markets" is 73 pages and is available in a printed English language edition for $1,995USD, a PDF single-departmental license for $2,995USD; and is available free as part of MRG's IPTV Tracking Service.