Analysis

Mobile operators are seen as key drivers for the nascent OTT market in Sub-Saharan Africa, which, while still small, is expected to see considerable gains through 2022.

Pay-TV revenues in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are forecast to reach $4 billion in 2021, according to Digital TV Research, which has downgraded its expectations for the region.

The major players in the Sub-Saharan pay-TV sector all saw strong subscriber gains in 2016 as they dropped their prices in order to remain competitive, according to a Digital TV Research study.

The SVOD sector in the Middle East and Africa is forecast to have nearly 20 million paying SVOD subscribers by 2021, up from 3.7 million expected by end-2016, according to Digital TV Research. Netflix is expected to reach 3.37 million subs in the MEA region by 2021, followed by Icflix with 1.85 million, iRoko with 1.55 million, Starz Play with 1.39 million and ShowMax with 992,000.

The number of pay-TV subscribers in Africa is forecast to reach 30 million in 2021, up from 16 million in 2015, according to the latest figures published by Dataxis.

Pay-TV subscriptions in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region are forecast to increase by 67 percent between 2015 and 2021, from 32.37 million to 54.09 million, according to Digital TV Research.

A new report from IHS reveals that the pay-TV market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region saw rapid growth in 2015, passing the billion-euro mark in revenues for the first time.

SVOD revenues across the Middle East and Africa are expected to increase from $124 million in 2015 to $1.24 billion in 2021, according to Digital TV Research. The Middle East & Africa OTT TV and Video Forecasts report estimates that Turkey will remain market leader covered, with $257 million in SVOD revenues by 2021.