Asia Pay-TV Penetration Hits 50 Percent

HONG KONG: There are almost 363 million homes subscribing to pay TV in Asia, according to new data released at the annual CASBAA Convention, which kicked off this week in Hong Kong, with a penetration rate that now stands at 50 percent.

The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) notes, however, that penetration rates vary dramatically across the region. South Korea is at the top of the list with a 99-percent penetration rate, followed by Taiwan (94 percent). On the other end, Indonesia’s pay-TV penetration rate is just 3 percent. Growth in the region is being led by India (75 percent penetration of all TV homes) and China (48 percent), as well as Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Asia’s pay-TV revenues are still lagging behind North America and Western Europe, CASBAA adds, at more than $30 billion this year as compared with $102.5 billion in North America and $41.04 billion in Western Europe.

“Asia now leads the world in multichannel TV connections, with growth only expected to accelerate," said Simon Twiston Davies, CEO of CASBAA. "With more than 50 percent penetration across the region and the lion’s share of the high net worth audience, subscription TV is more attractive than ever to subscribers, advertisers and investors."

A cause for concern for the industry, however, is that $2 billion in revenues were lost this year as a result of signal piracy. The piracy survey by CASBAA and Standard Chartered Bank notes that both pay-TV operators and governments are taking a hit. Research by PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that at least $262 million is lost annually from government coffers. The governments worst hit by piracy include Thailand ($87 million), Pakistan ($63 million) and the Philippines ($38 million).

However, digitization and anti-piracy efforts are having an impact, CASBAA notes. “Technology works,” added Twiston Davies. “In Hong Kong we have seen a dramatic fall in revenue leakage to $1.09 million in the past year. In India, while some regulatory weaknesses leave a huge hole in the industry revenue flow, the government is benefiting from a new will to collect entertainment and business taxes on more than 25 million digital pay-TV subscriptions. Improving digital roll-outs in the Philippines are helping our industry ‘hold the line’ in terms of revenue losses to individuals stealing from the pay-TV operators. An increasing recognition that intellectual property rights enforcement can benefit the entire value chain is gradually taking hold in markets where domestic content has been damaged by theft."