Global IPTV subscribers to triple

The number of homes paying for IPTV will rocket to 165 million by end-2017, up from 51 million at end-2011 and from only 7.5 million at end-2007, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. The Global IPTV Forecasts report estimates that China will supply 77 million (47%) of the 2017 total, up from only 14 million (28%) in 2011 and only 350,000 (5%) at end-2007.

Simon Murray, report author, said: “Some may be surprised to see the USA in second place by 2017 [with 14.4 million subs]. US telcos are aggressively marketing their IPTV products, with both Fios and U-Verse appearing in the top 10 pay TV operators.”

Of the 114 million subscribers to be added between 2011 and 2017, 86 million will be from the Asia Pacific region – or three-quarters of the new subscribers. India will supply 7.2 million more IPTV subscribers, up from a very low base at end-2011.

Global IPTV penetration only reached 3.7% of TV households at end-2011, although this was up from 0.6% at end-2007. By end-2017, IPTV penetration will grow to 10.8%. Penetration will remain low in Latin America and Middle East & Africa.

However, it will be as high as 14% in the Asia Pacific region by 2017; led by Singapore (43%) and Hong Kong (38%). The UAE (41%) will buck its region’s trend.

IPTV revenues will climb to US$21.3 billion in 2017, up from US$9.7 billion in 2011 and US$1.5 billion in 2007. The US will remain the largest IPTV revenue earner by taking a third of the 2017 total (down from 41% in 2011).

From the US$11.6 billion additional revenues to be created between 2011 and 2017, the US will provide US$3.0 billion. The Asia Pacific region will contribute an extra US$5.0 billion, led by China (US$1.8 billion more) and Japan (US$1.6 billion). France will drop from second place in 2011 to fourth in 2017. However, Russia will rocket to fifth place in 2017.

Households (000)     Penetration (%)
-------------------  ----------------
China        77,155  Singapore     43
USA          14,380  UAE           41
India         7,270  Hong Kong     38
Japan         6,840  Slovenia      35
Russia        6,536  South Korea   35
France        6,418  Taiwan        34
South Korea   6,131  Cyprus        32
Germany       3,713  Qatar         30
Taiwan        3,013  Croatia       30
Brazil        2,563  Estonia       28

2011                 2017
-------------------  -------------------
USA           4,034  USA           6,989
France        1,061  Japan         2,457
Japan           851  China         2,040
South Korea     419  France        1,314
Belgium         298  Russia          817
China           268  South Korea     737
Canada          245  Canada          611
Hong Kong       236  Germany         527
Germany         227  Taiwan          432
Netherlands     201  Brazil          379