SES claims an audience of 1bn
April 2, 2019
By Chris Forrester
Satellite operator SES says its latest annual Satellite Monitor survey of homes able to see its channels has grown by 4 million year-on-year to 355 million – and a global audience of more than 1 billion people.
SES is transmitting more than 8100 channels (and 50 now in UHD). Some 2700 of those channels are in HD. The distribution includes 150 million by DTH satellite, 143 million on cable, 42 million via IPTV and 20 million terrestrially.
SES said: “The results showed an increase in SES’s technical reach in Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Africa. In Africa, this included the addition of Kenya to the survey where more than 2 million TV homes across the country rely on SES for their TV content. In Europe, satellite broadcasting, and especially Direct-to-Home (DTH), remains the leading distribution technology, with SES serving 167 million TV homes across the continent. The SES fleet is also delivering video content to 72 million households across North America, mainly via the important U.S. cable neighbourhoods. Across other markets, SES continues to expand its technical reach, which now totals 102.6 million TV homes served by key video neighbourhoods in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa.”
2018 was the 25th year that SES has conducted the Satellite Monitor survey. The detailed data it delivers about the reach of SES and video viewing trends has proven to be a valuable tool for SES’s customers, supporting SES’s position as a trusted partner to the world’s leading broadcasters and content owners.
“At SES, we invest in tools and services to help our customers gather information about markets they operate in so that they can be even more successful in their business. The Satellite Monitor is one such tool that demonstrates the long-term value of SES’s core video neighbourhoods and extensive reach to our customers,” said Ferdinand Kayser, CEO of SES Video. “Regardless of the shift in consumption habits, it is clear that our business remains an essential tool in delivering a high-quality viewing experience to the world’s leading broadcasters and content owners. Through the differentiation of our services, we will continue to support their development and future success.”