Pay TV and ad revenues drop in Spain in Q1, but OTT TV grows

Pay TV and TV advertising revenues tumbled in the first quarter in Spain as the COVID-19 pandemic tightened its grip, according to figures released by regulator the CNMC. Pay TV subscriptions also fell, but online TV subs rose sharply, taking the overall pay video universe into growth.

IPTV revenues dropped by a marginal 1.2% to €400 million, while satellite pay TV revenues dropped by a whopping 23% to €80.8 million. Cable TV revenues slid by 6.6% to €40.7 million.

Online TV revenues, on the other hand rose from €12.4 million to €28 million year-on-year.

TV advertising revenues fell by 9.5% to €392.4 million.

While IPTV subscribers rose slightly from 4.709 million to 4.735 million quarter-on-quarter, cable TV subs declined from 1.3 million to 1.293 million and satellite TV customers declined from 554,000 to 525,000. The big winner from Spain’s lockdown, if such it can be called, was online TV, which saw subscribers rise from 648,000 in December to 1.276 million in March.

Digital-terrestrial channels still account for the lion’s share of viewing, at 75.1%, but at a declining rate.

Spaniards watched an average of three hours and 51 minutes of TV a day in the first quarter, up by 20 minutes quarter-on-quarter and up by eight minutes year-on-year.