According to ABI Research, half of the world's households will have access to pay TV service by 2017, representing 1 billion subscribers. The research house says the worldwide pay TV market surpassed 900 million subscribers in 1Q 2015, representing 48% penetration, and ABI expects the market to grow steadily over the next 5 years, mainly boosted by emerging markets.
As pay TV service providers experience increasing competition from alternative platforms such as OTT, ARPU continues to decline across the various platforms in many markets. Many operators have added OTT, multiscreen services, and on-demand [http://www.broadbandtechreport.com/video/vod.html] services in order to compete with OTT service providers. These services have contributed additional revenue to pay TV operators as well as maintaining customer loyalty.
Competition is higher in more mature markets such as North America and Western Europe where pay TV penetration is as high as 60% to 80% of households. A slower growth rate is expected to occur in such markets in the years to come. As broadband infrastructure development speeds up in Asia-Pacific, OTT players are starting to target the APAC market.
"Worldwide pay TV market is expected to reach 1.1 billion subscribers, generating US$307.5 billion in service revenue by 2020," wrote Khin Sandi Lynn, industry analyst. "The Asia-Pacific pay TV market is likely to grow faster than most other regions in the years to come. ABI Research forecasts that the pay TV market in Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5%, generating $79.4 billion in 2020."
