Google’s Chromecast device is expected to take the...

percent compound annual growth rate through 2018, fueled by developing markets including Asia-Pacific and Latin America, it said. “Despite stiff competition from a range of connected CE devices, the smart set-top box and dongle market offers an equally compelling user experience often at significantly lower price points,” said analyst Michael Inouye. Chromecast sets a “new low price bar” for the connected CE market and as more apps are added to its library, “its value-to-price ratio will continue to grow,” he said. Over time, new technologies such as a mobile high-definition link will add more dongle form factors to the set-top box market, he said. The low price of these devices will let lower-tier TV manufacturers separate the connected TV component for a cost-effective solution to connected TV, said Inouye. That will give customers the option of upgrading to the connected platform when they can without replacing the TV or purchasing “costly and proprietary upgrade modules,” he said. On the content side, if Sony secures the rights to distribute live cable channels from Viacom, this type of partnership could lead to a future “quite different from the one many are accustomed to today,” said Sam Rosen, ABI analyst. He said content holders are already forging more direct relationships with viewers, adding that pay-TV operators are “likewise evolving and adapting to this changing market environment.” The “amalgamation of Pay TV” and over-the-top video will become increasingly important, he said. Google TV could grow into a role as a “bridge, or new entrants like Microsoft’s Xbox One might fully realize this unified vision,” Rosen said.