Global Pay-TV Subs Reach 969 Million

Digital TV Research has estimated that 254 million additional pay-TV subscribers were added between 2010 and 2016, up by 35 percent, to take the global total to 969 million.

The Global Pay TV Subscriber Databook finds that digital cable TV created the most additions by platform, at 256 million between 2010 and 2016. Analog cable, however, lost 218 million subscribers. (Excluding analog cable TV, digital pay TV surged from 380 million subscribers in 2010 to 852 million at end-2016.) There were 76 million extra subs for IPTV to nearly quintuple its total. Satellite TV added 77 million and pay DTT 5 million.

The Asia Pacific is the world’s largest pay-TV subscriber region, contributing 60 percent to the global total. China alone supplies about one-third of the world’s pay-TV subs, with 313 million by end-2016.