IPTV gains in Spain as pay TV revenues increase

IPTV pay TV revenues in Spain, increased by 16% year-on-year in the third quarter of last year to about €400 million, while free TV revenues declined by 5.9% to €320 million in the same period, according to figures published by telecom regulator the CNMC.

IPTV pay TV revenues grew from €341 million in Q3 2018 to €396 million in 2019. Other platforms’ pay TV revenues declined, with satellite slipping from €113 million to €94 million and cable falling from €47 million to €36 million.

The exception was the still small share accounted for by online TV, which grew from €10 million to €12 million.

According to the watchdog, pay TV subscribers increased by 145,000 to 6.9 million in the quarter, with IPTV numbers totalling 4.65 million and cable totalling 1.3 million. While IPTV has continue d to grow, cable and satellite subscriber numbers have declined, with satellite declining at a faster rate. Online TV customers increased from 280,000 to 382,000.

Growth was driven by multi-play packages and promotional offers of free access for the first few months. Some 91% of pay TV subscribers take some form of bundled offering, according to the regulator.

Consumption of TV remains dominated by the digital-terrestrial platform, accounting for 76.6% of viewing, followed by a 21.5% share for cable and IPTV, with satellite trailing with a 1.9% share. However, the share accounted for by DTT is declining.

The most watched channels were free-to-air offerings Telecinco, Antena 3 and La 1, with audience shares of 14.1%, 11.2% and 8.9% respectively.