Applications
Mobile integration key to 57 mn smart STB market: Study
MUMBAI: Mobile integration is key for the smart set-top boxes to touch 57 million by 2017, according to ABI Research.
Smart STBs often garner less attention than other connected CE devices like TVs and game consoles. Apple, for example, has referred to its Apple TV as a “hobby”, although it leads the market with around four million units shipped through 2011.
Roku has had recent success of passing 2.5 million units in 2011, but the future looks at the very least challenging for these dedicated streaming devices to break out of a niche status. TVs, game consoles, Blu-ray players, and even mobile devices are quickly conspiring to engender a very competitive market for the digital living room. Even so, STB shipments are expected to reach as high as 57 million by 2017.
“Google has a split personality in this market. On the one hand, China, in particular, is seeing growing interest in “generic” Android based set-top boxes and USB (or MHL) dongles/stick devices. On the other hand, it is launching its second generation of Google TV platforms (including the well-priced and impressively spec‘ed Vizio Co-Star) where it tries to bring more content relationships and a better ecosystem,” according to Sam Rosen, practice director of TV & video at ABI Research.
The smaller form factor USB and MHL devices are both portable and like the Android STBs, offer consumers similar services and features found on popular mobile devices. Both of these devices expand the presence of Google Play but also could work well as a companion device for Android based mobile devices – not unlike the upcoming Nexus Q, just at a more appealing price point.
Senior analyst Michael Inouye comments, “Dedicated devices have traditionally had a difficult go in the market, often lacking the same value proposition as more full featured products like game consoles. The changing consumer landscape, however, could present a window of opportunity for smart set-top boxes as more consumers allocate entertainment budget, both monetary and time, to streaming media.”
Inouye adds, “The future of connected CE will ultimately work together with mobile devices and not against them. Other CE devices like connected TVs and game consoles are already integrating mobile devices into the user experience, the same will likely prove true for smart set-top boxes as well. If the Android boxes gain popularity this could create a stronger ecosystem play for Google.”
Applications
Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
