Small growth in global pay TV subscribers to 2026

Global pay TV to add 15 million subscribers

Digital TV Research forecasts 15 million more pay TV subscribers between 2020 and 2026 to take the global total to 1.02 billion. Between 2020 and 2026, 92 countries will add pay TV subscribers and 46 countries will lose subscribers.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “China and India will together continue to provide just under half the world’s pay TV subscribers. China will lose 10 million subscribers between 2020 and 2026 as OTT platforms are more appealing than traditional pay TV. However, India will add 21 million pay TV subscribers. The US will be the biggest loser – down by 16 million subscribers.”
IPTV will add 63 million subscribers between 2020 and 2026 to take its total to 378 million. There will be 412 million cable TV subs (both analog and digital) by 2026, 46 million lower than the 458 million recorded in 2020. Satellite TV will lose 8 million subscribers to total 203 million. Pay DTT will grow by 6 million subs to reach 25 million. Many of the pay DTT subscribers will be in Africa.