Pay TV: Strong Growth

The worldwide pay-TV market grew at a steady pace in 2012,generating US$238 billion by end-of-year, up from $223 billion in 2011, according to ABI Research’s Pay-TV ARPU and Revenues Market Data report. By 2018, the global pay-TV market is expected to generate $304 billion in 2018 with a CAGR of 4%.

ABI Research also reported that service revenue contributions from cable TV are “proving mixed”. The Asia-Pacific region saw service revenue growth due to underlying increase in subscriptions. However, cable TV operators in North America are experiencing a decline in service revenue as a result of a contracting subscriber base, despite cable TV innovations such as DVR and HDTV.

Globally, IPTV is gaining market share year-over-year while the rest of the pay-TV platforms are slowly contracting. IPTV service revenue market share increased from 10% in 2011 to 11.5% in 2012.

Cable TV market share dropped to 47% in 2012 from 48.5% in 2011 while satellite TV market share dropped around 1%.

Jack Saunders, vice-president and practice director of core forecasting, ABI Research, elaborated: “Availability of super-fast broadband networks and bundle offers from telcos over high-speed networks are driving the growth of IPTV adoption. IPTV market share is expected to increased from 18% in 2018, to generate $53 billion in revenue.”