Pay TV market to shrink in China

China’s pay TV industry is set for decline over the coming years.

According to GlobalData, the total pay TV services revenue in China is set to decline at a CAGR of 0.5% from US$32.9 billion in 2020 to US$32.1 billion in 2025. The report notes that this decline will come as a result of the growing preference within the country for OTT video streaming services along with a falling ARPU.

Cable TV in China will take the biggest blow, declining at a CAGR of 7.6% over the period as a result of cord-cutting. By contrast IPTV – already the dominant transmission method with 60% of subscriptions in 2020 – will grow at a CAGR of 5.8%.

Akash Jatwala, senior research analyst of Telecoms Market Data and Intelligence at GlobalData, said: “IPTV will be the leading pay TV service platform in China in terms of subscriptions during 2020-2025 and will account for 75% of the total pay TV subscriptions by the end of 2025. This growth will be primarily driven by the strong fiber-optic network penetration in the country that supports delivery of IPTV services. Furthermore, competitive pricing and bundled plans offered by major pay TV operators will drive IPTV subscription base over the forecast period.

“China Mobile will remain the leading pay TV service provider over 2020-2025, supported by its strong foothold in the IPTV segment. The operator’s leadership position can be attributed to its acquisition of fixed operator China Mobile Tietong and rapidly deploying fiber-optic network, which enables it to deliver high quality Video on Demand (VOD) services through Mobaihe set-top box to attract new subscribers.”