BRIC countries keep Pay-TV market growing despite cable subscriber losses

Tuesday, July 30th, 2013
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CAMPBELL, Calif. — Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest Pay TV Services and Subscribers report, which forecasts and analyzes the cable pay TV, satellite pay TV, and telco internet protocol television (IPTV) services markets.

ANALYST NOTE

“Thanks to strong momentum mostly in the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China — pay-TV revenue and subscribers continue to grow in the face of mounting cable subscriber losses in North America and Western Europe, where pay-TV providers are in danger of being relegated to the role of content aggregator,” cautions Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research.

Global Service Revenue in $US Billions - 2012, 2017

“To stem the subscriber losses,” Heynen continues, “Incumbent MSOs including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and UPC are introducing new services, like home automation and multi-screen video to reduce subscriber churn and generate top-line revenue growth, in addition to deploying new technologies to lower the capex required to deliver broadcast video.”

PAY-TV MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

  • Pay-TV providers took in $287 billion worldwide in 2012, 10% more than in 2011, for cable and satellite pay TV and telco IPTV services
  • Cable makes up the largest portion of the pay-TV market, but this will change by 2017 when satellite grows to more than 40% of total pay-TV revenue
  • Telco IPTV revenue is growing fastest among the 3 pay-TV segments, forecast by Infonetics to grow at a 19% CAGR through 2017
  • Pay-TV subscribers reached 730 million in 2012, up 7% from the previous year
  • In 2012, digital cable pay-TV subscribers outnumbered analog subscribers for the first time, bolstered by European Union’s transition from analog to digital
  • DIRECTV and Comcast are the reigning kings of pay TV: DirecTV has the highest ARPU, while Comcast has the most subscribers

PAY-TV REPORT SYNOPSIS

Infonetics’ biannual pay-TV services and subscribers report provides worldwide and regional market share, market size, forecasts through 2017, analysis, and trends for telco IPTV, analog and digital cable video, and satellite video service revenue, ARPU, and subscribers. Pay-TV providers tracked: Airtel, América Móvil, AT&T, Bell Canada, BSkyB, Cablevision, Canal Digital, CanalSat, Charter, Comcast, Cox, CTC, Deutsche Telekom, DirecTV, DISH Network, France Télécom, Kabel Deutschland, KPN, KT, LG, Oi, Shaw, SK Telecom, Sky Mexico, Tata Sky, Telefónica, Time Warner Cable, UPC Broadband, Verizon, Virgin Media, others.