Digital TV homes over 1bn by 2014
June 21, 2013
Global digital TV households will continue a growth trend, and exceed 1 billion by the end of 2014. This represents a significant increase from the end of 2012 when digital cable, satellite, IPTV and terrestrial (DTT) households totaled 755 million. A Strategy Analytics forecast shows a 6 year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.7 per cent for the digital TV market overall.
Digital cable will remain the dominant platform, as cable operators around the world continue with digital transitions. Even as some cable operators see total subscribers stalling or shrinking, digital cable subscriber counts will continue to increase. Digital satellite households – comprised of pay and free services – will also experience significant growth in several regions, as the total number of subscribers increases by 64 percent from 2012 to 2018.
“Even though many countries have completed their digital transitions, there is still a lot of room for growth in digital television globally,” says Jason Blackwell, Director, Service Provider Strategies (SPS) at Strategy Analytics. “Perhaps surprisingly, one of the biggest growth rates over the next few years will be in digital terrestrial. Most countries will complete the digital transition by 2018 and pay digital terrestrial as well as free-to-air terrestrial services will benefit from these transitions.”
“Digital subscribers typically represent a higher value to the operator, with a higher base subscription fee as well as higher video on demand sales,” says Eric Smith, Analyst in the Service Provider Strategies group. “As a result, we expect to see digital pay-TV revenues grow by 45 per cent between 2012 and 2018.”