Global IPTV subscribers to triple

The number of homes paying for IPTV will rocket to 165 million by end-2017, up from 51 million at end-2011 and from only 7.5 million at end-2007, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. The Global IPTV Forecasts report estimates that China will supply 77 million (47%) of the 2017 total, up from only 14 million (28%) in 2011 and only 350,000 (5%) at end-2007.

Simon Murray, report author, said: “Some may be surprised to see the USA in second place by 2017 [with 14.4 million subs]. US telcos are aggressively marketing their IPTV products, with both Fios and U-Verse appearing in the top 10 pay TV operators.”

Of the 114 million subscribers to be added between 2011 and 2017, 86 million will be from the Asia Pacific region – or three-quarters of the new subscribers. India will supply 7.2 million more IPTV subscribers, up from a very low base at end-2011.

Global IPTV penetration only reached 3.7% of TV households at end-2011, although this was up from 0.6% at end-2007. By end-2017, IPTV penetration will grow to 10.8%. Penetration will remain low in Latin America and Middle East & Africa. However, it will be as high as 14% in the Asia Pacific region by 2017; led by Singapore (43%) and Hong Kong (38%). The UAE (41%) will buck its region’s trend.

IPTV revenues will climb to US$21.3 billion in 2017, up from US$9.7 billion in 2011 and US$1.5 billion in 2007. The US will remain the largest IPTV revenue earner by taking a third of the 2017 total (down from 41% in 2011).
From the US$11.6 billion additional revenues to be created between 2011 and 2017, the US will provide US$3.0 billion. The Asia Pacific region will contribute an extra US$5.0 billion, led by China (US$1.8 billion more) and Japan (US$1.6 billion). France will drop from second place in 2011 to fourth in 2017. However, Russia will rocket to fifth place in 2017.