Global Digital TV Uptake Continues to Surge

LONDON: The number of homes with digital TV is forecast to increase by 1.08 billion between 2010 and 2021 to 1.67 billion, a spike of 185 percent, according to Digital TV Research.

The new edition of the Digital TV World Household Forecasts report, which covers 138 countries, predicts that the digital TV total will climb by 120 million in 2016 alone and by half a billion between 2015 and 2021.

Global digital TV penetration is expected to reach 98.3 percent of television households by 2021, up from 40.4 percent at end-2010 and 74.6 percent at end-2015. By 2021, 98 countries will be completely digital, compared with only 24 at end-2015 and two at end-2010.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the number of digital TV households will increase by 314 million between 2015 and 2021, with 84 million being added in 2016 alone. The region will supply nearly two-thirds of the 497 million global digital TV household additions between 2015 and 2021. Sub-Saharan Africa will more than double its base over the same period, with Latin America nearly doubling its total. The number of digital TV homes in Eastern Europe will triple between 2010 and 2021.

Global pay-TV subscribers will reach 1.07 billion by 2021, up from 716 million in 2010 and 907 million in 2015. The Asia-Pacific region will contribute 60 percent (647 million) of the global total by 2021. China will have the most pay-TV subs, at 329 million by end-2021, followed by 178 million in India and 95 million in the U.S. Pay-TV penetration reached 57.8 percent of TV households by end-2015, and will rise to 63.4 percent by end-2021. Penetration at end-2021 will range from 80.3 percent in North America (which is falling slowly as cord-cutting makes a limited impact) to 24.2 percent in the Middle East and North Africa.