India will add 11m pay-TV subscribers between 2021 and 2027 to a total of 1777.5m.
The Asia Pacific pay-TV sector is set to add 26m subscribers over the next five years, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.
China and India will account for 81% of the region’s 649m pay-TV subscribers by 2027. India will be the growth engine, adding 11m pay-TV subscribers between 2021 and 2027 to a total of 1777.5m. While China will boast 344.8m users, only 5m will be added over the next five years. OTT penetration is set to be much higher in China than in India.
South Korea will be in third place by a significant distance with a total of 20.3m subscribers. This will be followed by Japan with 17.4m and Pakistan and Vietnam with 14.7m each.
IPTV will add 65m subscribers in the next five years to take it to 337m. This growth will largely be dominated by China where cable subscribers are cutting the cord and in India.
Commenting on the finding of the report, Simon Murray, Principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “IPTV subscribers overtook cable TV ones across the region in 2021. Digital cable subscriptions will fall by 29m between 2021 and 2027. China will lose 38m digital cable subscribers.”
