European cable industry grew revenues 4.6% in 2014

Caroline Van Weede

The European cable industry experienced top line revenue growth of 4.6% in 2014, according to new research presented at Cable Congress in Brussels.

Outlining the figures, which were compiled by research firm IHS, Cable Europe managing director Caroline Van Weede said that the cable is a “healthy sector”, adding: “it’s alive, it’s kicking and it’s clearly showing very good results.”

According to the stats, cable industry players in the 28 European Union member countries added €1 billion in total revenues last year, with full year revenues up 4.6% year-on-year to €21.51 billion.

Of this, telephony and internet accounted for almost 50% of revenues, with these segments showing 5.3% and 9% revenue growth respectively. In 2014 telephony generated revenues of €4.05 billion and internet revenues of €6.49 billion.

Total cable TV revenues were up 1.8% year-on-year in 2014 to €10.97 billion, driven primarily by a 6% increase in digital TV revenues as well as a 13.7% increase in VoD revenues – mainly from  transactional VOD.

However, in terms of total subscriber numbers, cable TV saw a 1.4% year-on-year decline to 55.9 million subscribers, with a 5.4% increase in digital TV subscribers failing to offset the 9.6% fall in analogue TV subscribers.

Telephony saw a 6% rise to 25.1 million subscribers and internet a 7.2% rise to 31.5 million subscribers.
The cable industry added a total of 2.7 million revenue generating units in 2014 with total subscriber numbers across different services standing at 112.5 million.

In terms of the transition to digital TV, Cable Europe announced that 57.8% of TV subscribers are now digital and that digital TV and video-on-demand combined accounted for 74% of TV revenues.

“Our sector is growing through a time of tremendous change both in terms of the speed of technological development and new market entrants,” said Cable Europe president, Manuel Kohnstamm.

“Over-the-top players delivering services through the internet are reinventing business models and shaking up the traditional competitive scene. Consumers on the other hand expect affordable prices, good quality service and great content. Our smart investments to build superior networks are paying off in the form of state-of-the-art broadband access and a better-than-ever content experience.”