China to push Asian SVOD – without Netflix

The Asia Pacific region will have 157.78 million SVOD [subscription video on demand] subscribers by 2021, up from 41.68 million in 2015 and 76.12 million expected by end-2016. The total will be nudging 100 million by end-2017, according to the Asia Pacific SVOD Forecasts report.

Source: Digital TV Research

Rapid smartphone subscription growth means that China will command 47% of the 2021 total SVOD subscribers – up from 38% in 2015. From the 82 million additions between 2016 and 2021, China will supply 34 million, Japan 9 million and India 15 million.

By 2021, 17.5% of the region’s TV households [across 17 countries] will subscribe to an SVOD platform, up from only 5.1% by end-2015 and 9.1% expected by end-2016. Penetration rates in 2021 will vary from 53.5% in Australia (with four countries above 50%) to 8.0% in Pakistan.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Although Netflix, Amazon, Iflix, HOOQ and Viu will enjoy rapid growth, they will collectively only account for 16% of the region’s SVOD subscribers by 2021.”

He continued: “Netflix is forecast to have 7.59 million subscribers in the region by 2021, up from 3.17 million at end-2016. Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand will together account for nearly three-quarters of the total. Netflix is considered expensive in most other countries. We do not believe that Netflix will launch as a standalone platform in China.”

For more information on the Asia Pacific SVOD Forecasts report, please contact: Simon Murray, simon@digitaltvresearch.com, Tel: +44 20 8248 5051