informitv: TV Subscriber Numbers Still Show Growth

The 100 leading television services in the informitv Multiscreen Index added a total of 4.33 million TV subscribers in the last quarter of 2017, with the majority of the gains once again in the Asia-Pacific region.

The addition of 4.33 million TV subs is compared to 3.7 million in the previous quarter and 4.03 million in the last quarter of 2016. The gain of almost 1 percent was slightly up on the previous six quarters.

The Asia-Pacific region added 2.35 million subscribers, which is fewer than in the preceding two quarters but about the same number as in the comparable quarter a year previously. The top 10 services in AsiaPac added a total of 1.65 million subs, mostly in India.

In the Americas region, there was a small gain of 0.48 million subscribers, compared to a decline in the previous two quarters, bringing the number back to around the same level as the year before.

Satellite services led the worldwide overall gains, adding 1.87 million subs globally.

“Although there is a popular perception that pay-television subscriber numbers are falling, they are continuing to grow worldwide at a rate of around 1 percent a quarter,” said Dr. William Cooper, the editor of the informitv Multiscreen Index. “Much of the growth is in developing economies. Although average revenues are lower, there is still significant potential, with worldwide gains of around 10 percent forecast over the next five years.”

“Among the 100 services in the Multiscreen Index, there are almost as many subscribers in the Asia Pacific region as the Americas,” added informitv analyst Dr. Sue Farrell. “The merged Dish TV and Videocon d2h in India now has 29.51 million satellite subscribers, which is more than AT&T has with DIRECTV, U-verse and DIRECTV NOW combined.”