Global Pay-TV Market Sees Subscriber Gains in Q4

According to informitv’s latest Multiscreen Index, the total number of subscribers to the world’s top 100 pay-TV services was up by 4.03 million (0.93 percent) in the fourth quarter of 2016, despite a decrease in the Americas.

Out of the 100 pay-TV services in the Multiscreen Index, 61 reported net subscriber gains in the quarter, as compared to 67 in the same period the year before. The number of subs in the Americas was down by 50,000, with the top 10 services in the U.S. falling by 162,000.

The AsiaPac region rose by 2.36 million, with the top 10 services adding 1.80 million subscribers. EMEA saw subs up by 1.72 million, with Sky gaining 397,000 customers across Europe, including 170,000 in the U.K. and Ireland.

The biggest quarterly gain was for Canal+ Africa, which was up by 516,000, although Canal+ saw a decrease of 130,000 in mainland France. The largest loss was for AT&T U-verse, down 262,000, as the telco promoted its DIRECTV satellite subsidiary, which added 235,000.

“While the subscriber numbers for some services in the Americas are flat or falling, we are still seeing growth in other regions, with cable and satellite remaining robust worldwide,” said Dr. William Cooper, the editor of the Multiscreen Index.

“Eighty-eight of the 100 services offer some form of multiscreen access, now available to 90 percent of homes subscribing to services in the index,” added analyst Dr. Sue Farrell. “The adoption of multiscreen viewing is much lower, although the next generation of online services is now aiming at a new generation of video viewers.”