Pay TV subscriptions for 338 operators across 89 countries will increase by 200 million from a collective 704 million in 2014 to 904 million by 2020, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.
The Global Pay TV Operator Forecasts report estimates that 29 operators had more than 5 million paying subs by end-2014.
China Radio & TV is the world’s largest pay TV operator by a long, long way. The operator will soon represent every cable TV home in China, with 252 million subscribers expected by 2020 – up by nearly 54 million on 2014.
IPTV operators China Telecom and BesTV will add 14.7 million and 13.2 million subs respectively. Also, 12 operators from China and India will collectively add 130 million subscribers between 2014 and 2020.
Despite adding 200 million subscribers between 2014 and 2020, subscription and VOD revenues for the 338 operators will remain flat at $183 billion. From the total, 34 pay TV operators earned more than $1 billion in subscription and VOD revenues in 2014.
China Radio & TV will add a massive $2.16 billion between 2014 and 2020. Five operators will add more than $500 million in revenues.
However, 97 operators (29%) will lose revenues, with Comcast (down by $4.6 billion) declining by the most – followed by Time Warner (down $2.3 billion) and DirecTV (down $1.8 billion).