According to IHS global shipments of devices able to access over-the-top (OTT) broadband content such as Netflix and Hulu are to reach over 1.7 billion, proof of "profound" changes in the way consumers access video entertainment.

The definition of "OTT-capable equipment" is a fairly broad, since it covers STBs, Blu-ray players, internet-enabled TVs, game consoles, digital media adapters (Apple TV, Roku), tablets, PCs and smartphones. All allow users to consume entertainment "on top" of an internet connection.

Such shipments represent 20% growth over the 1.43bn in 2012, and equate to enough OTT systems to accommodate nearly 1 out of every 4 persons in the world.

And growth does not stop there-- the analyst forecasts 20% growth for 2014 before shipments reach 2.67bn units by 2017.

“Content owners, operators and consumers all are driving the proliferation of the OTT model,” IHS says. “Content owners want to expand the market for the films, music and videos they own. Meanwhile, operators wish to use OTT in order to add value to their services and keep subscribers from cancelling TV subscriptions in favor of purely broadband connections—preventing what the industry calls "cutting the cord." Consumers, for their part, desire access to a wide variety of media at the time and place of their own choosing.”

The majority of OTT devices are either PCs or smartphones, but the rest of market is also "extremely" large and growing at an "accelerating rate." Non-PC, non-smartphone device shipments should total 480m for 2013 with 30% growth.

Go Shipments of OTT-Enabled Devices Set to Reach 1.7bn this Year