IPTV overtakes satellite in Asia-Pacific

The number of paying IPTV subscribers has overtaken the number of satellite TV customers in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a report by Digital TV Research.

According to the fifth Digital TV Asia Pacific Forecasts report, the region’s IPTV total will reach 123.5 million by 2021, with China accounting for 78.4 million of those.

Digital pay TV subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region will nearly quadruple in the decade to 2021, according to the report. The region will add 314 million digital TV homes between 2015 and 2021, including 107 million digital terrestrial homes, according to the report. Analogue terrestrial homes will fall by 158 million.

The number of digital cable homes will rise by 113 million over the next six years, with analogue cable losing 72 million. Pay digital satellite will add 30 million homes, with free-to-air satellite adding 10 million.

Digital TV Research calculated that pay TV penetration will rise from 61.1% last year to 69.2% by 2021, adding 127 million homes to take the total to 647 million. Digital pay penetration will have climbed from a base of 21.2% in 2010 to 68.3% by 2021, taking its total to 639 million.

Pay TV revenues will reach US$40 billion by 2021, up from US$31.94 billion last year, according to the report.