The television market in the Asia Pacific is one of the largest in the world, with eMarketer showing that China alone accounts for over a third of all television households worldwide.
According to eMarketer, digital technology, industry consolidation and continued economic growth are transforming the television sector in the Asia Pacific region, with the area on the “threshold of a new phase of growth and innovation.
Commenting on the strong growth forecast for Asia Pacific, Ben Macklin, senior analyst at eMarketer, said: “For countries such as Japan and South Korea, the digital path seems clear. These countries are mapped out to so saturate themselves in digital bits and bytes that, within ten years, no analogue technology will ever appear again.”
Macklin continued: “For countries such as India and China, the path is less straightforward. Considerable challenges lie ahead and it is unlikely these challenges will be addressed without foreign assistance and investment.”
eMarketer predicts that among the leading countries in the Asia Pacific, there will be around 30 million households accessing digital television via cable, or terrestrial signals at the end of 2005, rising to 170 million by 2010.
Macklin added: “The estimates for China and India are of course extremely speculative. They depend a great deal upon continued economic growth, stability and significant investment in infrastructure.”
According to Media Partners Asia, however, pay-TV adoption varies considerably across the region, with South Korea leasing penetration, while China remains the leader in numbers.
The latest Entertainment and Media Outlook from PricewaterhouseCoopers confirms the Asia Pacific’s expected strong growth, with the report predicting new digital launches to multi-channel penetration and fuel spending (see Entertainment Industry Continues To Enjoy Strong Performance).
A recent report published by high-tech market research firm, In-Stat, forecasts internet protocol video services in Asia Pacific to rise in popularity and increase by nearly 80% annually through 2010, with the market’s revenues predicted to reach $4.2 billion by 2010 (see Asia Pacific To See IP Reach $4.2 Billion By 2010).
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