Streaming/VOD to ‘surpass satellite TV’ in two years

Western European pay TV revenues will drop by nearly 18% over the next five years to $22bn as subscribers leak away from cable and satellite bundling across the continent.

Figures from Digital TV Research show that the pay-TV subscriber count in Western Europe will drop by 7%, leading to a faster decline in revenues than previously thought.

The UK and France will each see a decline of $1bn, with pay TV revenues falling in every country in the region except Malta between 2022 and 2028.

Satellite TV, meanwhile, will lose $3bn over the same period, with many satellite subscribers converting to platforms that offer broadband connections.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, has forecast that TV watched through the internet (IPTV, which includes streaming and video on demand platforms), will surpass satellite TV in 2025 to become the most lucrative platform.”

Last year the UK’s two major pay-TV operators Sky and Virgin Media were forecast to lose a sixth of their combined subscriber base by 2027.

Sky’s parent company Comcast reported an 11% annual decline in its direct-to-consumer revenue in its 2022 financial earnings report, while ad revenue was down 12% year on year. As revenues from satellite TV subscriptions decline, the company has invested in developing ‘internet-ready’ products such as Sky Glass, a custom-built Philips TV with Sky software, and Sky Stream, a streaming stick.

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