Pay-TV revenues for the 20 countries across the MENA will reach $3.62 billion in 2023 up by only 7.8% on 2017. Pay-TV revenues will fall in 2018. They will be flat in 2019 before starting a slow recovery. These are the findings in the eighth edition of the Middle East and North Africa Pay TV […]
Pay-TV revenues for the 20 countries across the MENA will reach $3.62 billion in 2023 up by only 7.8% on 2017. Pay-TV revenues will fall in 2018. They will be flat in 2019 before starting a slow recovery. These are the findings in the eighth edition of the Middle East and North Africa Pay TV Forecasts report published by Digital TV Research.
Focussing just on the 13 Arabic-speaking countries, pay-TV revenues will grow by 24% from $1.18 billion in 2017 to $1.46 billion in 2023, despite pay-TV subscriptions rising by 47% over the same period to 5.84 million. If subscriptions are growing faster than revenues, then ARPUs must be falling, the report states.
Commenting on the findings, Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: The region has always been difficult for pay TV, with many homes receiving many FTA channels and rampant piracy being commonplace.
While established pay-TV provider, OSN benefits from exclusive long-term deals with all of the Hollywood studios, the broadcaster has struggled to push its subscriber base much beyond one million subscribers.
Murray explained: Competition is increasing from the multitude of SVOD platforms that have launched in recent years. These platforms compete directly against OSN due to their emphasis on drama.
Murray continued: OSNs reaction was to cut its subscription prices substantially in February 2017. Digital TV Research believes that further cuts will be made as OSN struggles to hold on to its subscriber base.