Global IPTV subscriptions to double over seven years

Global IPTV subscriptions will more than double from 90 million at the end of 2013 to 191 million by year-end 2020, according to a new report by Digital TV Research.

The study, which covers 138 countries, claims this growth will compare to pay IPTV subscriber numbers of just 36.1 million in 2010.

By the end of this year, Digital TV Research expects the figure to be 111.9 million.

“The Global IPTV Forecasts report forecasts that IPTV penetration will exceed 11% of TV households by 2020; up from 5.9% in 2013 and from only 2.5% in 2010,” according to Digital TV Research.

The report says that IPTV revenues from subscriptions and on-demand movies and TV shows grew from US$8.3 billion (€6.13 billion) in 2010 to US$16.0 million and tips this to rise to US$26.2 billion by 2020.

The top three countries by paying IPTV subscribers are expected to remain the same between 2013 and 2020. In 2020, China is tipped to hold the top spot with 77.2 million subscribers, followed by the US with 16.1 million and France with 8.7 million.

By 2020 Japan is expected to climb from fifth to fourth spot, knocking South Korea out of the top five with 7.2 million subscribers. Russia is expected to by the fifth biggest IPTV market in 2020 with 7.1 million subscribers.

“Four of the top 10 IPTV countries by subscribers were in the Asia Pacific region by end-2013. Already the world leader, China will supply 77 million (40% of the global total) of the 2020 total, up from 33 million (37%) in 2013 and only 6.5 million (18%) at end-2010,” said the research.

By money earned, the US is expected to be the top country in terms of IPTV revenues in 2020, followed by China, Japan, France and South Korea.