Although cable outages continue to spread across much of the world, the number of global pay-TV subscribers will remain around a billion by 2027, according to new forecasts from Digital TV Research.
According to the consultancy, the number of pay TV subscribers in 138 countries will reach 1.03 billion by 2027. This figure is higher than the estimate for 2021, which represents 57% of households with TV (well below the 2018 figure). 61%).
IPTV will be the most paid platform with more subscribers 440 million subscribers worldwide. There will be 367 million cable TV subscribers by 2027, down 56 million from the 422 million registered in 2021. The 2021 total includes 22 million analog cable TV subscribers, a number that will drop to zero by 2027.
Meanwhile, pay satellite TV will lose 12 million subscribers by 2027 to a total of 195 million. The report also notes that this will be the result of households converting to platforms offering high-speed broadband.
Free DTT will be at 505 million, followed by free satellite with 275 million.
Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: ‘Given the increasing demand for fast broadband connections, IPTV will be the pay-TV winner. IPTV will add 79 million subscribers between 2021 and 2027 to bring its total to 440 million. IPTV will become the leader of pay TV in 2022’.
