The global pay-TV services market, including cable TV, satellite, IPTV and over-the-top (OTT) video, totalled $237 billion in 2014, up 7% yearly, according to the 2015 IHS Infonetics Pay TV Services and Subscribers report.
Global pay-TV subscribers ballooned to nearly 800 million in 2014 (up 5%), and for the first time the OTT pay-TV segment provided the strongest growth. Through 2019, OTT pay-TV services are forecast by IHS to have the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of any pay-TV service.
"In a growing number of pay-TV markets, service providers are expanding market presence by offering their own OTT video services, primarily as apps on tablets and third-party OTT media servers. DISH Networks, the second-largest satellite provider in the US, is offering an OTT video service called Sling TV that's aimed squarely at cord-cutters and cord-nevers," said Jeff Heynen, research director for broadband access and pay TV at IHS. "The net result of these offerings will be slower revenue growth globally as OTT services carry a lower ARPU."
Cable pay-TV revenue growth slowed to 1.8% in 2014, largely due to sluggish subscriber growth in North America, where net video subscribers are declining around 1% to 3% annually.
"Pay TV providers are also actively marketing 'skinny' bundles of ten to 30 channels in more affordable packages. Verizon has gone so far as to introduce multiple bundles of channels that subscribers can add on top of their base channels to create a custom channel line-up," Heynen said.
Source: http://www.rapidtvnews.com/2015052238410/global-pay-tv-tops-237bn.html#axzz3arsGXtM0
