ABI Research said Monday that Apple’s introduction of videos for sale through the iTunes Music Store last October triggered an “online video big bang.”
“While the push to online video had started well before the launch of the video iPod … the online video ‘big bang’ started with Apple’s announcement,” said the company in a statement.
That momentum was punctuated by new products and services introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“The flood of online content announcements from Google, Yahoo and others shows that after years of hesitation from the larger media players, the market for premium content online is finally beginning to take shape,” said Mike Wolf, principal analyst of broadband and multimedia with ABI Research.
ABI Research predicts 89 percent growth for the premium online video market through 2010.
“When companies such as Intel, with their new Viiv entertainment PC platform, and other large stakeholders such as Apple and Microsoft, focus their attention and resources, the combined impetus will force this market to expand, and consumers to open their wallets,” said Wolf.