According to the report by Digital TV Research, India will add 21m and together with China, will have nearly 500m subscribers.
The Asia Pacific (APAC) region is set to reach 630m pay-TV subscribers by 2026. The estimate would see the region’s total number of subscribers rise modestly from 609m in 2020, according to a study from Digital TV Research.
The region is dominated by two countries, India and China. India is set to add 21m subscribers and together with China, will amass nearly 500m subs by 2026. By this time, said the analyst, the number of TV households will grow by 54m to 979m. Somewhat surprisingly, the Japanese and Korean pay-TV markets are both like to experience flat growth, resulting in 20.2m and 17.6m subscribers respectively.
Looking at platforms, the APAC OTT TV and Video Forecasts study showed that IPTV subscribers will likely overtake cable in 2024. IPTV was projected to add 51m subscribers between 2020 and 2026 to take its total to 283m. Digital and analogue cable subscriptions were forecast to fall by 19m and 13m respectively. Pay satellite TV numbers were projected to increase by only 2m subscribers to take the total to 83m.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Six countries will lose pay-TV subscribers between 2020 and 2026. Most will be the developed countries, but China is also included. China will fall by 10m subscribers. This is cord-cutting, but represents only a 3% decline to 318m.”
