IPTV Subscribers Grow 257% in Americas Year on Year

The majority of subscribers are in the US – leading US IPTV providers Verizon and AT&T collectively reached 1.2 million subscribers by the end of Q4 2007, up 294.9% from 296,000 in Q4 2006.

This substantial growth does not appear to be having a detrimental affect on satellite television subscriptions to date. Subscribers in North and South America rose to 39.5 million in 2007, up from 36.3 million in 2006. North America’s leading satellite television providers, DirecTV and EchoStar, added 2.1 million subscribers during the same period.

Commenting on the research, Pamela Tufegdzic, multimedia analyst at iSuppli, said: “The early hypothesis was that IPTV subscribers would ‘come out of the hide’ of the satellite companies in North America. However, over the past four quarters, satellite subscriber numbers have continued to grow in the region. The initial results show that IPTV subscribers in the United States still are mostly net additions to the pay-television market.

iSuppli believe that while satellite television has shrugged off the impact of IPTV so far, the industry is likely to face increasing challenges in 2008 and beyond.

Tufegdzic added: “Satellite providers are in a bit of a squeeze. These companies previously partnered with the telcos to offer television service to compete with the bundled voice and video offerings from the cable providers. As they try to expand into IPTV, the satellite providers now find that a significant portion of their subscriber base of television subscribers is owned by the telcos.”

iSuppli have forecast that IPTV subscribers will increase from 1.8 million in 2007 to 17.7 million in 2011.

A recent forecast from MRG predicted that global IPTV subscribers will grow from 24.4 million in 2008 to 92.8 million in 2012, with IPTV service revenue totaling $37.1 billion by 2012 (see IPTV Subscribers Forecast To Reach 92.8m In 2012).