Two thirds of pay TV operators ‘set to gain subs’ over next five years

Despite the well-documented trend towards cord-cutting in developed markets, two-thirds of the world’s pay TV operators will gain subscribers between 2019 and 2025, according to Digital TV Research.

According to the research outfit’s Global Pay TV Operator Forecasts report, which covers 502 operators across 135 countries, some 59% will also increase their revenues over the period.

The gains will primarily come from operators outside the world’s top tier of pay TV providers.

The top 50 operators accounted for 46% of the world’s pay TV subscribers by end-2019.

However, the top 10 will lose subscribers over the next five years, with the next 40 operators flat, according to the research outfit. Operators beyond these positions will gain subscribers, according to Digital TV Research.

The report predicts that eight operators will add more than one million subscribers between 2019 and 2025. China Unicom will win the most subs, with a gain of 19.96 million, followed by China Telecom with 18.52 million.

Conversely, eight operators will lose one million or more subscribers between 2019 and 2025, led by China Radio and TV with a 37 million loss. The next five losers will all be from the US.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “By end-2019, 13 operators had more than 10 million paying subscribers. This will reach 14 operators by 2025.”

The report covers 502 operators with 732 platforms [134 digital cable, 118 analog cable, 283 satellite, 140 IPTV and 57 DTT] across 135 countries.