Report: Pay-TV Revenue Growth to Slow

LONDON: Price competition and the prevalence of free DTT in many markets will result in slower growth in pay-TV revenues over the next five years, according to a new report, as compared with the period from 2007 to 2012.

Informa Telecoms & Media’s new Global Digital and Pay TV report estimates that global pay-TV revenues were $184 billion last year, $49 billion higher than 2007. In the next five years, the report projects an increase of $42 billion to reach $226 billion. Of that amount, $214 billion will be subscription revenues, up $38 billion on 2012.

The report notes that with the demand for triple- and quad-play bundles, while consumers are spending more overall with operators, expenditures on TV are lower as fees are also allocated to Internet and phone services. Furthermore, increased competition, particularly from IPTV operators, has resulted in cable and satellite players offering cheaper entry-point packages. Free DTT has also diminished the potential pay-TV client base.

Informa projects on-demand revenues to soar by 57 percent to $11.2 billion by end 2017, but this still reflects less than 5 percent of overall pay-TV revenues.

North America remains the biggest market by revenues, reaching $89.3 billion in 2017, followed by Asia Pacific at $54 billion, up by more than 50 percent since 2012. Strong gains are also expected for Latin America, reaching $30 billion. Western Europe pay-TV revenues are forecast to rise 9 percent to $37.2 billion, with the U.K. and then Germany as the largest markets. Eastern European revenues will rise from $6.5 billion to $8.2 billion over the forecast period, while Middle East and Africa is expected to reach $6.9 billion from $5.1 billion.