MEA pay TV subscriptions to increase by 67%

Pay TV subscriptions in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) will increase by 67% between 2015 and 2021 – from 32.37 million to 54.09 million – according to new research.

The Digital TV Research stats claim that satellite TV platform DStv will continue to be the leading pay TV operator in the MEA region by subscribers, adding nearly 3 million between 2015 and 2021 to reach 10.7 million subs.

The ‘Middle East and Africa Pay TV Operator Forecasts’ report predicts that pan-African operator StarTimes will be the second largest operator in 2021 with 6.47 million subscribers, up from 2.75 million a year earlier.

Meanwhile, DStv’s sister company and DTT platform GOtv is tipped to add 3.8 million subs over the six-year period to claim third place in 2021, with 6.16 million subscribers.

“Growth in the Middle East and North Africa will be more modest than Sub-Saharan Africa, although beIN will double its subs base between 2015 and 2021,” according to the research.

The study claims that DStv will remain the wealthiest operator, increasing its revenues by more than US$1 billion (€895 million) between 2015 and 2021. Total subscription and pay per-view TV revenues from MEA are tipped to climb from US$7.95 billion to US$11.47 billion over the same period.