IPTV to overtake cable TV in subs
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 25 October 2021
Led by the continued huge shift in platforms in China, the global IPTV market is set to see its subscriber numbers exceed those from cable TV in 2026, adding 63 million subscribers between 2021 and 2026 to total 398 million says a study from Digital TV Research.

Dig TV res IPTV 25Oct2021According to the Pay TV Forecasts Update report, China will have 226 million IPTV subscribers by 2026, leaving only 172 million for the rest of the world. China will add 19 million IPTV subscribers between 2021 and 2026. At the same time, China is forecast to lose 39 million cable TV subscribers during the same period to end 2026 with 89 million subscribers.

In its study, Digital TV Research also forecasts 13 million more pay-TV subscribers between 2021 and 2026 to take the global total to 1.01 billion. China will continue to supply nearly a third of the world’s pay-TV subscribers, with 315 million expected by end-2026. India will bring in another 178 million. China and India will together provide half the world’s pay-TV subscribers by 2026.

By contrast, the report predicts there will be 389 million digital cable households and 260 million using free satellite, 203 with free satellite and 522 million with free DTT.