Spain: Offers mean subs up, revenues down
February 21, 2019
From David del Valle in Madrid
Low cost offers and pay TV promotions are boosting the pay-TV market in terms of subscriptions but taking a toll on revenues.
The latest report from regulator CNMC reveals that in the last quarter of 2018 the number of pay-TV subscribers increased by 232,000 to a total of 6.9 million customers, 90.5 per cent taking convergent packages.
Movistar is the market leader with a 6 per cent year-on-year growth in pay TV customers in Spain, according to the company. Data from Movistar reveals that Telefónica’s pay TV platform captured 55,000 in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 244,000 for the full year, 28 per cent up on 2017’s growth of 199,000 new subs. Total Movistar + pay TV customers in Spain now stands at 4.1 million.
The rise in pay-TV subscribers is in contrast with the decline in revenues as a whole. Pay–TV revenues dropped by 2.1 per cent to €512 million according to CNMC. IPTV revenues, though, grew by 5 per cent to €340.9 million versus the same period last year.
FTA revenues also dropped by 4 per cent to €340 million with Mediaset and Atresmedia taking 83.7 per cent of the TV ad market.
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