Convergent packages are boosting pay TV subscriptions in Spain. Some 91.8 per cent of pay-TV customers access their service via a convergent package, according to competition and markets regulator the CNMC. Furthermore , eight out of ten are subscribed to a quintuple package (with five services: fixed and mobile telephony, fixed and mobile broadband and pay-TV).

Movistar has strongly relied on convergent packages to capture subscribers – 90 per cent of its pay-TV customers are subscribed to its Fusión convergent package with 4.1 million TV subs at the end of 2018 versus 4.6 million to its convergent service. Thirty-five per cent of new subscribers also include Netflix in their convergent package. Over the last year, Movistar increased its market share by 60 per cent compared with the 7.4 per cent decline registered by its rival Vodafone. Vodafone ended the year with 1.29 million subscribers whereas Orange reached 690,000 improving its market share by 13.9 per cent.

Overall, pay-TV, with a total of 6.8 million homes, has an audience share of 24 per cent versus FTA DTT, with 76.3 per cent, although the latter is increasingly losing viewers.

Streaming pay TV services such as Netflix and HBO are gaining momentum. Kantar Media estimates that 26 per cent of Spanish homes are subscribed to these services reaching up to 4.8 million homes.

Categories: Articles, Broadband, Broadcast, ISP, Markets, Pay TV, Research, Telco