According to the Digital TV Middle East & Africa Databook from Digital TV Research, digital TV penetration will be 73.8% in the Middle East & North Africa (up from 64.3% in 2010) and 57.1% in Sub-Saharan Africa (up from only 19.2% in 2010). The report projected 132.4 m TV households across the region by end-2014; […]
According to the Digital TV Middle East & Africa Databook from Digital TV Research, digital TV penetration will be 73.8% in the Middle East & North Africa (up from 64.3% in 2010) and 57.1% in Sub-Saharan Africa (up from only 19.2% in 2010).
The report projected 132.4 m TV households across the region by end-2014; up from 117.2 m in 2010. However, 113.0 m homes (46.0% of total households) will not have a TV set by end-2014. Furthermore, the region is expected to reach 89.3 m digital TV households by the end of 2014, up by 12.4 m during the year and up by 32.4 m since 2010.
The research calculates that pay-TV subscriptions will jump by 75.5% from 16.3 m in 2010 to 28.7 m by end-2014, with subsequent revenues reaching $8 b in 2014, up from $4.84 b in 2010. The Middle East & North Africa is projected to have 15.5 m pay-TV subs by end-2014 (up from 10.6 m in 2010), with Sub-Saharan Africa on 13.1 m (more than double the 2010 total).
Pay TV revenues will reach $8.00 billion in 2014, up from $4.84 billion in 2010. Satellite TV contributes the bulk of pay TV revenues, with its share of the total rising from 77.5% in 2010 to 78.8% in 2014. Pay TV revenues in the Middle East & North Africa will increase from $3.0 billion in 2010 to $4.4 billion in 2014, with Sub-Saharan Africa doubling over the same period to $3.6 billion.
In terms of platforms, free-to-air satellite TV will become the most popular platform in 2014, overtaking the declining analogue terrestrial total. Satellite TV is forecast to contribute the bulk of pay-TV revenues, with its share of the total rising from 77.5% in 2010 to 78.8% in 2014. Pay-TV revenues in the Middle East & North Africa will increase from $3.0 billion in 2010 to $4.4 billion in 2014, with Sub-Saharan Africa doubling over the same period to $3.6 billion. For its part, IPTV is growing fast, and should soon overtake digital cable.