The global multichannel video market is on track to reach 1 billion subscribers in 2017, despite headwinds in more mature markets and persistent challenges from over-the-top alternatives, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence report. According to SNL Kagan (the media and communications arm of S& P Global) estimates, pay TV subscribers reached 957 million […]
The global multichannel video market is on track to reach 1 billion subscribers in 2017, despite headwinds in more mature markets and persistent challenges from over-the-top alternatives, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence report.
According to SNL Kagan (the media and communications arm of S& P Global) estimates, pay TV subscribers reached 957 million at the end of 2015 as more than half of all households paid for some form of traditional subscription video service.
Multichannel video subscriptions are forecast to increase to 1.15 billion by 2020, adding a total of 191 million net subs over a five-year period. Multichannel penetration is forecast to increase from 58.4% at year-end 2015 to 63.0% in the next five years.
While cable TV is expected to remain the largest platform on a global scale in the next five years, its share is forecast to decline from 63% in 2015 to less than 60% by 2020, largely due to analogue subscriber churn and market-share gains by DTH and IPTV operators. IPTV is the fastest-growing of the three major pay TV platforms and is modeled to capture a 14.0% market share by 2020, up from 12.7% in 2015, translating into a 5.8% five-year subscriber compound annual growth rate.
Asia, home to the two largest pay TV markets China and India, accounted for more than half the world’s multichannel subscribers in 2015. North America and western Europe rank as the second- and third-largest multichannel regions after Asia, accounting for 11.7% and 9.5% of the global total in 2015, respectively. However, ranking global regions by multichannel penetration produces quite different results, with North America leading the world with an 83.5% pay TV penetration rate as of year-end 2015. The region is followed by eastern and western Europe, which achieved 66.9% and 62.8% penetration rates in 2015, respectively.
With regards to multichannel revenues, the global multichannel economy generated $239.8 billion in video service revenues in 2015, with more than half earned by North American pay TV providers. Western Europe, the second- largest multichannel economy, accounted for only 17.8% of the global total in 2015.
Western Europe, the second-largest multichannel economy, accounted for only 17.8% of the global total in 2015.
This report was issued by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
