Score one for the telcos: IPTV is giving more traditional video broadcast providers a run for its money, adding subscribers at a faster clip these days than either cable or satellite. ABI Research forecasts that IPTV’s share of the overall pay-TV market will increase from 6 percent in 2010 to 11 percent in 2015.
Uptake for IPTV has been most successful to date in Western Europe and Asia-Pacific, with China expected to continue to grow, but ABI says the IPTV growth rate in some European countries is expected to slow as the market starts to mature. Even so, in North America and Western Europe, IPTV is starting to become a real threat to cable, the market-share bigwig that claims 70 percent of the overall pay-TV market.
“The cable-TV market is declining in some countries, especially in Western Europe and North America," said ABI research associate Khin Sandi Lynn, in a statement. “One reason is market saturation in these countries. Furthermore, there is aggressive competition from IPTV operators. Cable operators are coming under pressure to maintain subscriber and ARPU growth. Some operators have cut subscription prices in order to compete with IPTV operators."
ABI noted that there are also alternative pay-TV platforms beginning to make their presence felt, notably Pay-Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), which carries a low roll-out cost for operators. The technology has been successful in a number of European countries, including Spain, where Gol TV achieved one million subscribers within nine months of being launched. Western European pay-DTT subscriptions are expected to reach 14.4 million by the end of 2015.
Worldwide pay-TV subscribers totaled 688 million at the end of the second quarter of 2010, and subscriptions are expected to reach 854.5 million in 2015, with a 5.7 percent CAGR from 2010 to 2015, the research firm says.
