The number of pay-TV subscribers worldwide is set to reach 1.1 billion by 2023, after rising by around 95 million over the previous 5 years, according to the latest update from Digital TV Research based on forecasts for 138 countries, according Telecompaper. The vast majority of the additional subscribers – 81 million – will connect via IPTV platforms, with the technology overtaking pay satellite TV in 2018. However, the report predicted that satellite TV will grow by 31 million subs and pay DTT by 10 million by 2023.
Digital cable TV will add at 61 million subs over the same period, but analogue cable TV will lose 88 million subs, resulting in a slight net loss for cable (both analogue and digital) from 528 million in 2010 to 525 million subs by 2023, said the report.
In terms of regions, North America will see pay-TV subs plummet from a high of 112 million in 2012 to 92 million in 2023. The number of pay-TV subscribers in Latin America is set to rise by less than 5 million between 2017 and 2023 to a total of almost 76 million. Eastern Europe will lose 2.4 million subscribers between 2017 and 2023, down by 2.9 percent to 79 million, while Western Europe will inch up 2.6 percent to 106 million.
The Asia Pacific pay-TV sector, by contrast, will see subscribers surge by 78 million over the next five years to 686 million. China will continue to supply about a third of the world’s pay-TV subscribers, with 375 million expected by end-2023, with India bringing in another 16 percent of the total by 2023 – or 180 million.
