Digital transition drives Euro cable growth
March 8, 2017
From Nick Snow @ Cable Congress
The cable industry is growing, with total revenues up 4.6 per cent year on year based on IHS statistics released by the industry’s trade association, Cable Europe, at Cable Congress in Brussels.
Revenue growth remains solid across all cable services: broadband internet (7.5 per cent), TV (3.7 per cent) and telephony (2.1 per cent). Broadband represents an increasing share of revenue at 32.8 per cent, and the number of broadband subscribers rose 5.9 per cent. Television continues to be the largest source of profit for the industry, accounting for 46.5 per cent of the €23.45 billion of revenue.
The digital transition continues to be an important driver for TV services, with revenue growth for TV driven by a strong appetite for digital subscriptions and video on demand (VoD). Digital TV subscribers rose 6.3 per cent, accounting for 66.3 per cent of all TV subscriptions and generating 80 per cent of TV revenue.
More than 2.7 million Revenue Generating Units (RGUs), the industry metric for the total sum of TV, Internet and telephony subscriptions, were added in 2016, and the total across Europe is now 118.24 million.
Manuel Kohnstamm, President of Cable Europe, commented: “Overall digital VoD revenue has increased by 14.1 per cent year on year, showing solid growth in the year. Going forward, we still see huge opportunities for sustained digital growth in Europe, as 18.5 million analogue TV subscribers are still to convert.”
Cable Europe Executive Chairman Matthias Kurth added: “Continued investment in infrastructure and content shows cable is providing consumers with the content they want in a digital age. As cable continues to convert analogue homes to digital, giving consumers more choice and content will result in them taking up more services. This trend should continue with the digital revolution across cable.”