Pay-TV Revenues to Dip to 2010 Levels

According to Digital TV Research, pay-TV revenues for 138 countries peaked in 2016 at $205 billion and will fall by 14 percent to $177 billion in 2024.

This is the same level as 2010, despite the number of pay-TV subscribers increasing by 380 million between 2010 and 2024.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Subscriber growth is mainly in developing countries where ARPU is lower than the developed countries. In addition, subs are moving away from standalone packages to double-play and triple-play bundles. Standalone packages are more lucrative to TV.”

Eight of the top ten countries will lose revenues between 2018 and 2024. The U.S., for one, will fall by $21 billion, or down by 22 percent. U.S. pay-TV revenues peaked in 2015, at $106 billion, but its total will drop to $76 billion in 2024. The U.K. will fall by nearly $1 billion between 2018 and 2024, or down by 14 percent.

Murray added: “On a positive note, India will gain $1 billion in pay-TV revenues between 2018 and 2024 to take its total to $6.32 billion, up by nearly 20 percent. India will move up from sixth to third place over this period. The second biggest winner will be Indonesia, with a $786 million gain.”