India to add maximum satellite TV revenues and subscribers by 2020: Report

India to add maximum satellite TV revenues and subscribers by 2020: Report

MUMBAI: A report released by Digital TV Research has thrown some light on how satellite TV revenues will change between now and 2020. The report, that covers 138 countries, estimates that Asia Pacific and Latin America will show strong growth, while western Europe will witness a fall in revenue. This will be due to increased competition from other platforms.

Satellite TV revenues for all these countries are estimated to hit $ 99.9 billion in 2020, up from $87.8 billion in 2013 and $69.3 billion in 2010. It also predicts that satellite TV revenues will overtake cable TV revenues in 2014. Therefore, satellite TV will comprise 46 per cent of total pay TV revenues in 2014, rising to 47.8 per cent by 2020.

Even though the US will remain as the leader in revenue generation, India is expected to add the most satellite TV revenues between 2013 and 2020 ($3.2 billion, tripling its total). This is followed by Latin American country Brazil with $1.6 billion and the US with $1.5 billion. In more than 44 countries, revenues will more than double.

The top five revenue generators in the year 2020 will be the US with $40,570 (up from $39,034 in 2013), Brazil with $7,634 (up from $6,084 in 2013), UK with $5968 (down from $6,124 in 2013), India will add $4,704 and Mexico with $4,204 (up from $3,762 in 2013).

Report author Simon Murray said: “Satellite TV revenues will decline for 19 countries between 2013 and 2020. Much of this is due to greater competition forcing satellite TV platforms to offer cheaper packages which will lead to lower ARPUs. Furthermore, low-cost satellite TV packages are making a significant impact in several countries.”

The total number of pay satellite TV homes will be 271 million by 2020, up from 192 million by end of 2013 and 143 million by 2010 end. It also states that out of the expected 78.5 million subscribers that will be added between the years 2013 to 2020, maximum will come from India-27.7 million. This will be followed by Brazil trailing at 5.8 million and Indonesia with 5.4 million.

Pay TV subscriber total will more than double in 47 countries but will fall in 13 countries. India will lead in the total number of pay satellite TV homes in 2020 with 69.2 million for which it toppled the US in 2012.  India will be followed by Russia and Brazil. Together, India, US, Brazil and Russia will account for just over half the global total by then.

439 million homes will directly receive TV signals via satellite dishes, up by 100 million by end of 2013. More than a quarter of global TV households will have satellite dishes by 2020, up from 18.3 per cent in 2010 and 22.3 per cent in 2013.