Pay-TV Revenue Growth Slowing

LONDON: The days of rapid growth in pay-TV revenues are over, according to a Digital TV Research report, which predicts that global revenues from subscriptions and on-demand TV and movie services will rise just 3.2 percent this year, with growth rates slowing to below 2 percent from 2015 onwards.

In 2018, Digital TV Research expects pay-TV revenues to be $203 billion, just $19 billion higher than the 2012 levels. In 2018, DTH will be the dominant platform by revenues, generating $96.7 billion, followed by $79 billion for digital cable and $21.3 billion for pay IPTV. This year marks satellite moving ahead of cable for the first time, accounting for 45.9 percent of revenues.

The U.S. will remain the DTH market leader, accounting for 43.5 percent of satellite TV revenues last year. This is expected to slip to 38.7 percent in 2018. The biggest gains in DTH revenues are expected in Brazil and India. Cable, meanwhile, peaked in 2012 with revenues of $86.9 billion—this is expected to drop to $82.6 billion in 2018.

While pay-TV revenues will more than double in 18 markets between 2012 and 2018—largely in Africa, plus Indonesia and Vietnam—they will fall in 15 countries, including the U.S.