Nine operators dominate MEA pay TV

Monday, August 1st, 2016
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Pay TV subscriptions in the Middle East & Africa region will increase by 67% between 2015 and 2021 – from 32.37 million to 54.09 million.

The top nine pay TV operators [Multichoice (DStv and GOtv), StarTimes/StarSat, Canal Plus, OSN, beIN, DigiTurk, D-Smart, Yes and HOT], accounted for 70% of these subscribers by end-2015, with this proportion falling to 66% by 2021. So nine companies will continue to control more than two-thirds of the region’s pay TV subscribers, according to the Middle East & Africa Pay TV Operator Forecasts report.

Top five MEA pay TV operators by subscribers (000)

                           2015                              2021
                          -----                            ------
DStv (pan-Africa)         7,988   DStv (pan-Africa)        10,714
Digiturk (Turkey)         2,870   StarTimes (pan-Africa)    6,466
StarTimes (pan-Africa)    2,751   GOtv (pan-Africa)         6,164
GOtv (pan-Africa)         2,367   Canal Plus (pan-Africa)   3,177
Canal Plus (pan-Africa)   2,073   Digiturk (Turkey)         3,121

Source: Digital TV Research

Satellite TV platform DStv will continue to be the region’s leading pay TV operator by subscribers; adding nearly 3 million to its total between 2015 and 2021. Sister company and DTT platform GOtv will add 3.8 million subs. Its rival StarTimes will increase its active subs base by a similar amount (3.7 million) to push it into second place among the pay TV operators.

Growth in the Middle East and North Africa will be more modest than Sub-Saharan Africa, although beIN will double its subs base between 2015 and 2021.

Subscription and PPV pay TV revenues from the Middle East and Africa will climb from $7.95 billion to $11.47 billion over the same period. Subscription and VOD revenues for the top nine operators accounted for 81% of the 2015 total, but this proportion falling slightly to 78% by 2021.

DStv will remain the wealthiest operator. DStv will also be the biggest winner; increasing its revenues by more than $1 billion between 2015 and 2021. Canal Plus will follow with an extra $369 million. GOtv’s, beIN’s and StarTimes’ revenues will all at least double over the same period.

For more information on the Middle East & Africa Pay TV Operator Forecasts report, please contact: Simon Murray, simon@digitaltvresearch.com, Tel: +44 20 8248 5051