Digital TV to reach 97.9% of homes by 2020

Global digital TV penetration will reach 97.9% of TV households by the end of 2020, up from an anticipated 67.7% at the end of this year, according to a new report by Digital TV Research. 

The stats, which are based on forecasts for 138 countries, claim that the number of digital TV homes will reach 1.68 billion in 2020, an increase of 185% compared to 2010.

By 2020, 94 countries will be completely digital, compared to just 12 at the end of 2013, while roughly 124 countries will have more than 90% digital penetration by 2020, according to the study.

“Of the 762 million digital TV homes to be added between 2013 and 2020, 258 million will come from digital cable. Primary free-to-air DTT [homes taking DTT but not subscribing to cable, DTH or IPTV] will acquire an additional 292 million. Pay IPTV will more than double to 191 million, with pay DTH up by 79 million,” said Digital TV Research.

Digital cable is tipped to account for 33.6% of the world’s TV households in 2020, and will exceed 50% of TV households in nine countries. Pay IPTV penetration is expected to climb to 11.1% by 2020, while pay digital satellite TV penetration will be 15.8%.

By the end of 2020, roughly 26.4% of homes are expected to be primarily free-to-air DTT, with penetration to exceed more than half the TV households in 41 countries.