Recently, TV manufacturers, video websites, and Internet companies have all launched new smart TVs and various OTT terminals, and videos have created a hubbub of smart terminals. There is only one reason for consumers to choose smart TVs or OTT boxes: they can make full use of the Internet's content resources, not only movies but also shopping, news or other services. Obviously, the stories of smart TVs and OTT boxes are not yet over.



Faced with increasingly powerful and cost-effective smart TVs and OTT boxes that only need two or three hundred yuan to satisfy more video needs, how should consumers choose their own "television intelligence"? The general answer is: buy a smart TV. However, in addition, consumers have another option, which is to buy OTT boxes or smart TV bars that are more compact and convenient. Just half a day on September 16th, Baidu TV Bar sold 10,000 sets - if the data is placed in the hottest 2008 HD player, it will be the sales of some small plants throughout the year.

Goldman Sachs predicts that the OTT box will expand in volume from 2013 and is expected to reach 30 million units by 2015, while Internet TV users based on OTT boxes will reach about 31 million. Obviously, OTT boxes have become the focus of new electronic product competition.

OTT box outbreak OTT box is the evolution of set-top boxes. Initially, the introduction of set-top boxes was designed to compensate for the lack of TV tuner capability. The set-top box was required to receive cable signals and then move the signal frequency to a frequency band not occupied by the broadcast. This is the earliest set-top box. Then came the digital television set-top box, which can convert digital television signals into analog signal conversion equipment and provide viewers with high-quality television programs through television displays and audio equipment. At present, the mainstream set-top boxes are roughly divided into three types: one is an IPTV set-top box released by a telecom operator, the other is a set-top box of a broadcasting system, and the third is an OTT box that all manufacturers are currently seeking.

With almost the same development path as many electronic products, the OTT box has evolved from the simplest function to become a “composite” electronic product, just as the mobile phone gradually evolved from the simplest call function to today’s games, music, reading, Payments and other countless features.

In fact, for the OTT box, the closest external device to television, some people think that the future is the world of smart all-in-ones, and the future of OTT boxes is not good. Others think that as the popularity of smart TVs and bandwidth increase, OTT boxes The development will become particularly important, and may even become an important entrance for the home Internet. Some people not only regard the OTT box as an external device for the TV, but also as an external device for the mobile phone. Screen linkage."

It is precisely because of the diversified views that the formation of the siege of OTT boxes by various military forces has taken place. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Huawei, LeTV, Ali, Xiaomi and other companies are fierce. Goldman Sachs predicts that smart TV boxes will expand in volume from 2013 and are expected to reach 30 million units by 2015, while Internet TV users based on smart TV boxes will reach about 31 million. Obviously, the OTT box has become the focus of new electronic product competition, and some people believe that "This year is a full-year outbreak of the OTT box."

Traditional color TV companies are calmly facing the OTT box offensive of Internet companies. Traditional domestic color TV companies have responded calmly. Traditional TV companies such as Changhong, Skyworth, Konka, and TCL are still pushing smart TVs, focusing on 3D, Ultra HD, and intelligent technologies.

According to the analysis of experts in the home appliance industry, it is no accident that traditional TV companies do not catch cold on smart boxes. From the perspective of corporate interests, traditional color TV companies do not want the smart TV market to be divided by amateurs, but also hope that consumers will enter the smart era with smart TVs. According to data from the 2013 White Paper on Smart TV Industry Development of the China-Italy Alliance, the penetration rate of smart TV reached 50% in the first half of 2013, and the activation rate reached over 77%. The average monthly activity was over 50%. Clearly, smart TVs have reached popularity, and consumers have become accustomed to acquiring information through smart TVs.

In the smart TV scramble exhibition, Internet companies have not yet accomplished anything. Although powerful internet companies such as Apple, Google, Lenovo, LeTV, Xiaomi, Alibaba, Baidu and others have used OTT boxes as their pioneers to compete in the television field, there are only a few companies that have finally launched smart TVs, including Lenovo, LeTV and Xiaomi. LeTV has begun to provide users with high-quality video content, charging 490 yuan per year high-definition content service fees, to achieve a change from selling hardware to selling services. Compared with Internet companies' OTT boxes, video content seems to be a short board for color TV companies. Working with Internet companies, increasing content supply has become a TV company's choice. TCL cooperates with iQIYI, Skyworth and Alibaba. Both parties exert their respective strengths in hardware and content to expand the competitive advantage of smart TV.

Fighting for the entrance to the living room In fact, whether it is the OTT box that Internet companies sell well, or the smart TV strategy that color TV companies stick to, they are all fighting for the entrance to the living room of consumers.

Now it seems that there are about three ways to change the viewing mode of the living room: One is to put a smart TV directly, one is to change the TV through an OTT box, and the other is to use a mobile phone to achieve three-screen interaction. As we all know, TVs are durable consumer goods, and the replacement time generally takes at least five years. The upgrade of smart TV systems and applications is very fast. Obviously, the opportunity of the OTT box is highlighted. OTT boxes are cheap, small, and easy to replace, so consumers can maintain a higher frequency of replacement, so as to ensure the continuous upgrading and “renewal” of smart TVs.

Not only that, the OTT box also incorporates many related features such as WiFi and NAS storage. In simple terms, the future direction of OTT boxes is likely to become the desktop chassis, which combines the functions of WiFi, storage, and TV boxes. This not only enables rapid upgrading, but also promotes the entire family cloud and home Internet. To the very crucial role.

Although the current OTT box has infinite scenery, but entered the era of intelligence, the competition situation of the OTT box has also undergone tremendous changes. The biggest threat is that the generalization of computing power has made it easier for the original product differentiation to merge and penetrate. For example, the industry proposes to extend OTT boxes through smart routers. As a meeting point for connecting home terminals, the advantages of routers are self-evident. This also makes many people think of smart routers as the Internet entrance of smart homes, routers can carry music, smart boxes, home private cloud, etc. Users can install control bandwidth, accelerate the Internet, filter video ads and so on. In this way, it is not impossible for smart routers to increase the replacement of the current smart TV boxes with this part of the functional modules. What is more crucial is that from a single-function product to a platform product, the business model that was born will be the same as that of the original smart TV box. The pattern of purchase, copyright payment is completely different.

There is only one reason why consumers choose smart TVs or OTT boxes: they can make full use of the Internet's content resources, not only movies but also shopping, news or other services. Therefore, the stories of smart TVs and OTT boxes are obviously not yet finished, but what kind of box is the box? Whether the business model is still the business model is still a question mark.