Western Europe OTT ‘to hit US$13.7bn’

Over-the-top television and video revenues in western Europe will hit US$13.72 billion in 2020, according to Digital TV Research.

The figure is expected to be reached in five years as uptake on on-demand and OTT services roll out across 15 western European countries.

This compares with the US$894 million recorded in 2010 and the US$6.34 billion expected this year.

Subscription on-demand will become the region’s largest OTT revenue source next year, Digital TV Research predicted. This comes as Netflix rolls out in various European territories and other local services emerge.

In 2020, SVOD will bring US$6.49 billion – 47% of all OTT revenues, compared with just US$106 million in 2010 (12% of revenues).

“We forecast 55.66 million SVOD homes by 2020, up from 1.66 million in 2010 and an expected 15.29 million by end-2015,” said Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research. “Germany will overtake the UK to become the largest country by SVOD homes in 2020.”

Furthermore, 32.2% of the region’s TV households will subscribe to an SVOD package by 2020, up from 9% by end-2014. Penetration in the Nordic region will “notably higher” than others, according to Digital TV Research.

However, four of the five largest western European countries – France, Germany, Italy and Spain – will see penetration below 30%.