The number of paying subscribers to telco television services in the Asia Pacific region overtook those paying for satellite television in 2015. A report from Digital TV Research suggests that IPTV growth is far from over, with 123.5 million subscribers expected in the region by 2021. Nearly two-thirds of these will be in China.
Of the 314 million digital TV homes to be added between 2015 and 2021, 107 million will come from digital terrestrial television, while the number of analogue terrestrial homes will fall by 158 million. Digital cable will contribute 113 million additional homes, with analogue cable losing 72 million. Pay satellite TV will supply an extra 30 million, with free to air satellite television adding 10 million.
China will provide 329 million pay TV households by 2021, with India supplying a further 178 million.
“So pay TV penetration will rise from 61.1% in 2015 to 69.2% in 2021, adding 127 million subs to take the total to 647 million,” said Simon Murray of Digital TV Research. “Even more impressive is that digital pay TV penetration will climb from 21.2% in 2010 to 44.9% in 2015 on to 68.3% in 2021. Digital pay TV subscribers will nearly quadruple from 164 million in 2010 to 639 million by 2021.”
The Digital TV Asia Pacific Forecasts report is available from Digital TV Research.