By Keri Algar

SYDNEY, NSW: Australian IPTV sales could benefit from a surge of interest if the recent live broadcasting trials by YouTube and the launch of Google TV are successful in the United States, according to a Harvey Norman salesperson.

As an initial offering the YouTube trial was only available for two days and based on the results of the initial test, YouTube said it would evaluate rolling out the platform more broadly to its partners worldwide.

Retailers on Australian shores said they predicted IPTV sales would be given a major push by live streaming and Google TV.

“I definitely think online TV launches will have a huge impact on IPTV sales, especially Google,” Julian Conti from Harvey Norman told Current.com.au.

“We get a lot of people coming in and enquiring about Google capable TV’s. Anything affiliated with Google is quite popular, especially with the older generation.

“We’re finding that a lot of the younger generation might not be able to afford internet capable TVs like your Sony’s, LG’s, Samsung’s.

“3D TV is still a lot more popular and we’re finding we need to introduce IPTV to customers, that they don’t really know a lot about it in general.”

The drive to promote live broadcasting was bolstered by research results by US company ComScore, which revealed a 648 per cent hike from last year in the amount of time Americans watch live streamed video on other websites.