US IPTV growth slows in Q4
February 1, 2013
The growth of the US IPTV market continued to decelerate in the fourth quarter of 2012, due to the impact of Hurricane Sandy and the slowing expansion of Verizon’s FiOS service.
The two major US IPTV players, Verizon and AT&T, reported a combined gain of 326,000 video subscribers in the fourth quarter, down 19 per cent from the 402,000 acquired during the same period in 2011, according to the IHS Screen Digest. This marked the second consecutive year of slowing subscriber growth in the fourth quarter, with the total for the last three months of 2011 down 7 per cent from 430,000 in 2010.
For the entire year of 2012, net subscriber adds for the two US IPTV services amounted to 1.3 million, down 14 per cent from 1.5 million in 2011.
Through 2017, both major US IPTV players will continue to see their subscriber gains moderate as the market becomes more mature. By 2017, IHS Screen Digest expects that IPTV in the US will account for 13.4 million pay-TV households, or 10.8 per cent of all pay-TV subscribers.
“Verizon’s FiOS accounted for the majority of the slowdown, as the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service added only 134,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2012, down from the 194,000 gained during same period in 2011,” said Erik Brannon, senior analyst for television research at IHS. “The disruption caused by hurricane Sandy may have slowed FiOS’s progress. However, the major reason for the deceleration is that FiOS is largely finished expanding its footprint into new geographic areas of the United States. FiOS’s penetration is significantly higher than that of U-verse, causing long-term growth to slow for Verizon’s IPTV service.”
progress. However, the major reason for the deceleration is that FiOS is largely finished expanding its footprint into new geographic areas of the United States. FiOS’s penetration is significantly higher than that of U-verse, causing long-term growth to slow for Verizon’s IPTV service.”