2013/07/18 Despite Threats, Global Pay-TV Subs Continue to Grow

The new report of Multimedia Research Group, “Worldwide Pay-TV Subscribers” shows the worldwide pay-TV subscriber market has reached a new high water mark. Following a year of solid 8% growth, there are now 804 million worldwide pay-TV subscriber households.

The global pay-TV subscriber base, which is made up of cable TV, satellite TV, and telco-based IPTV subscribers, is growing most rapidly in the Asia-Pacific region. Last year, over 38 million new households in Asia signed up for pay-TV service. Overall, on a worldwide basis two out of every three new pay-TV households in 2012 were in the Asia-Pacific region.

Meanwhile, the more mature pay-TV markets are hardly growing at all. In North America, pay-TV subscriber households stayed flat during 2012, ending the year pretty much where they began with 112 million subscriber households. There was a similar story in Western Europe, where total pay-TV subscriber households increased by just under 3% last year.

The chart below further illustrates the growth of worldwide pay-TV subscriber households from 2010 – 2012

Worldwide Pay-TV Subscriber Households by Geographic Region, 2010 – 2012 (Households in Millions)

Some other highlights from MRG’s report about the global pay-TV subscriber market include:

• 56% of the world’s 1.43 billion TV households now subscribe to a pay-TV service.
  
• In terms of the specific pay-TV service platforms, IPTV subscriber households grew the most in 2012, rising by over 30%. Total satellite TV households grew by just over 10% last year.
• Cable TV subscribers still account for the largest segment of the pay-TV subscriber universe. At the end of 21012, 63% of all global pay-TV subscriber households were cable TV households.

MRG Analysis:

Even with the ongoing debate about the value of pay-TV services versus the cost of pay-TV services, one thing remains clear: Consumers around the world love to watch TV, and they remain both ready and willing to pay for it. Despite the threats of “cord cutting” or alternative TV distribution technologies, we expect pay-TV service providers will, for the foreseeable future, continue to be the leading players in the delivery of TV services to the home.

Looking out over the next few years, we expect to see sustained growth in demand for pay-TV services. In fact, by 2017, we are projecting worldwide pay-TV subscriber households to pass the 1 billion mark. Most of this growth will likely be driven by the increasing availability of satellite TV and IPTV services, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.