Global revenue from subscription television services will remain greater than that from online video subscription services through to 2028, although the gap is narrowing. The number of television subscriptions will remain roughly flat, while the number of online video subscriptions continues to rise. However, online subscriptions will largely supplement rather than replace revenue from traditional television subscriptions.
Speaking at the recent Connected TV World Summit in London, Maria Rua Aguete, who is media and entertainment research director at Omdia, said that while the market share of pay television has declined, subscriber numbers globally have remained stable at just over a billion homes worldwide. That number is expected to remain around the same through to 2028, although the share of the market will fall from 37% to 33%.
The number of online video subscriptions will grow to 2.2 billion by 2028. That is double the number in 2020, when the online video subscriptions overtook those for traditional pay television services.
Television subscription revenue, although slowly declining, is still expected to be above non-advertising revenue from online video at over $180 billion a year in 2028.
From this it is notable that television subscriptions will still be a big business. Furthermore, online video subscription revenue is largely supplementing, rather than replacing, that from traditional television subscriptions. However, it is also clear that online video subscription revenue is predicted to rise with little sign of slowing down any time soon.