Western Europe set to lose pay TV subscribers

Western Europe is set to lose seven million more pay TV subscribers between 2021 and 2027, with declining ARPU likely to take a further toll on the business, according to Digital TV Research.

The research outfit predicts that western European pay TV will decline to about 100 million paying subscribers by 2027.

Pay TV subscriber counts will fall for 14 of the 18 countries surveyed in Digital TV Research’s report between 2021 and 2027. Germany will lose two million subs, with the UK down by 1.4 million and France nearly one million.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Pay TV revenues will decline by US$5 billion – 18% – between 2021 and 2027 to US$22 billion. The pay TV subscriber count will drop by 7%, so revenues will fall faster – revealing lower TV ARPUs and less emphasis on TV from the operators. IPTV will overtake satellite TV in 2026 to become the most lucrative platform.”