Just as gift cards have started becoming a tool of necessity for those lost in the digital age, 2009 has also seen the rise of broadband connectivity as the common “cool” factor of breakthrough gadgets and services.

Engadget, a popular consumer electronic blog, reported that without a doubt the next big thing in HDTV’s is Internet capabilities with LG Electronics unveiling a new TV with built-in Netflix streaming support and Toshiba shipping its own line of web-enabled sets as well. The electronic and gadget manufacturers are not the only ones with broadband on the brain; cable TV providers themselves have begun exploring new on-demand web-based movie and television services to compete with popular portals like Hulu as consumers head straight to the Internet to watch favorite shows at their leisure.  Just recently, Comcast rolled out the beta version of their new Fancast XFINITY TV service which opens all of their television/movie content to their subscriber base as well as providing a platform for future offerings such as programming your DVR through the Web.

We look towards 2010 like a kid waiting for Santa on what new technologies are around the corner that will make our lives more productive, more connected or just more fun. 2009 however will always be remembered with an air of significance as the year consumer electronics enabled with Internet capabilities truly came together with the pervasive nature of broadband as the glue.

YouTube has announced support for 1080p streaming, in response to the ever-increasing resolution of consumer digital video cameras and the growing penetration of 1080p-enabled households.

What does 1080p mean to the average subscriber, and what does YouTube’s announcement mean to Internet providers?  Consider the trailer for “The Dark Knight”, which is about two and a half minutes in length.  This table shows the average stream rate at various resolutions.

Clearly, the instantaneous bandwidth requirements are dramatically different for the varying video resolutions.

*As an aside, it’s interesting to note that for the average user watching the video on a laptop, netbook, or even desktop computer, it will be hard to notice a significant difference in visual quality despite almost a 6x increase in bandwidth utilization.  Most monitors simply won’t display in 1080p resolution.  However, if you have your computer hooked up to a 24” monitor or HDTV, or if you have a web-enabled TV, then 1080p represents a major upgrade.

What happens to the world’s broadband networks if more users start clicking on YouTube’s “watch in HD” button?  Measured by total network bytes, YouTube is perhaps the most popular site on the Internet – our recent 2009 Global Broadband Phenomena study found that YouTube accounts for about 5 percent of total Internet traffic.  While we’re certainly not going to see an overnight 6x bandwidth increase for YouTube as a whole, if even 10% of YouTube users start watching their videos in 1080p (and this assumes more 1080p videos become available), then networks around the world may well be facing a dramatic and rapid increase in YouTube traffic, and in bandwidth utilization as a whole.

On November 30th, Rogers Cable launched their Rogers on Demand online video portal – this service will (initially) allow Rogers subscribers to stream video from 19 channels and will deliver expanded features in the coming months.  Bell Canada has a similar service, Bell TV Online, that currently offers “watch now” streaming from three popular channels.

For many Canadians, who are unable to access Hulu and other popular US-based sites, the launch of these services is a welcome development.

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In preparation for the 2010 launch of God of War III, Sony announced the God of War Collection – this is a single Blu-ray disc that includes remastered versions of the series’ first two instalments.  Like many game releases, to help promote sales and spread the word, a game trailer is available for download through the Playstation Network.  The trailer, roughly 2 minutes in length, is available in several resolutions.  The 1080p version checks in around 144 megabytes.

Game trailers are no new development, and are by no means exclusive to Sony.  Similarly, today’s consoles support not only the downloading of add-ons (a Rock Band album can easily be over 100 MB) and entire games, but have also introduced movie streaming through partnerships with Netflix.  Additionally, the built-in web browsers often support popular video formats.  These capabilities mean that a console owner might well use the gaming device to watch YouTube videos, or listen to Internet radio, or prevent a trip to the video rental store, or to replace an existing TV package.

When we think of the Wii, Xbox 360, or PS3, it’s natural to think in terms of “online gaming”; that is, the bidirectional flow of data corresponding to a game being played.  In reality, though, the majority of bytes attributable to these gaming consoles are actually the result of these extra media capabilities.  Also, while much of this media traffic is sensitive buffered video that is consumed on arrival, game or firmware updates are more akin to traditional bulk downloads.

Understanding the use-cases is an important part of understanding Internet subscriber behavior as a whole, and it is this understanding that leads to services packages more closely aligned with subscriber usage patterns.