Video-on-demand (VOD) services in the Asia-Pacific region will be paid for by 157.78 million viewers by 2021, with almost half located in China, predicts Digital TV Research.
Subscriber numbers in the region are forecast to rise from 41.68 million in 2015, and 76.12 million forecast by the end of 2016, to reach almost 100 million by the end of next year.
The rapid growth of smartphone-based subscriptions to streaming services will see China accounting for 47% of the total subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) figures come 2021, up from its 38% share in 2015. Between 2016 and 2021, 34 million additional customers will sign up for SVOD services in China, 15 million for SVOD services in India and 9 million for SVOD services in Japan, according to the Asia Pacific SVOD Forecasts report.
By 2021, a total of 17.5% of TV households in the 17 Asia-Pacific countries studied will subscribe to VOD services, up from just 5.1% at the end of 2015 and 9.1% expected by the end of this year. Penetration rates across these countries will vary enormously from 53.5% in Australia to 8% in Pakistan. Four countries will have above 50% penetration for SVOD platforms.
“Although Netflix, Amazon, Iflix, HOOQ and Viu will enjoy rapid growth, they will collectively only account for 16% of the region’s SVOD subscribers by 2021,” said Simon Murray, principal analyst, Digital TV Research.
“Netflix is forecast to have 7.59 million subscribers in the region by 2021, up from 3.17 million at end-2016. Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand will together account for nearly three-quarters of the total. Netflix is considered expensive in most other countries. We do not believe that Netflix will launch as a standalone platform in China,” he added.
