Highlights:
- Indian Pay-TV revenue to reach more than ₹ 92,000 crore ($ 12.3 billion) by 2025
- The average time spent by a person watching TV has increased by 3% to 3 hours 44 minutes per day
- Over 96% of India’s pay-TV homes will also be digitised by 2025
The pay-TV sector in India has been projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7% between 2020 and 2025 as total industry revenues, including the subscription and advertising, to reach $12.3 billion by 2025, as per a report shared by Media Partners Asia (MPA).
The report which has been titled India Pay-TV Distribution 2021 has predicted that more than 96% of the country’s pay-TV homes will be digitalised by the year 2025 with total pay-TV subscribers expanding from 127 million (12.7 crore) in 2020 to 134 million (13.4 crore) by 2025.
Additionally, MPA which is an independent provider of research, advisory and consulting services across media, telecoms, sports and entertainment industries in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East, has estimated that India’s active DTH (Direct-To-Home subscribers) homes will grow from 58 million (5.8 crore) in 2020 to more than 68 million (6.6 crore) in 2025.
The firm, also said that the cable’s share of pay-TV subscribers will decline from 54% in 2020 to 46% by 2025 while IPTV (Internet Protocol Television or the delivery of television content through Internet networks) will pick up a small share after rolling out later in 2021.
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Mihir Shah, MPA India Vice President (VP) said, “Robust backend systems, the ability to offer consumers flexibility in choosing channel packages under NTO (new tariff order) and the exit of leading private channels from DD Free Dish helped the DTH pay-TV sector grow even after the new Trai tariff regulations came into effect,” in a statement.
He added, “Going forward, DTH will be the key driver of growth fulfilling the needs of the majority of new TV households entering into the pay-TV ecosystem.
“Premium cable subscribers in urban centers remain vulnerable to churn as uptake of quality fiber-based broadband services including IPTV grows in affluent pockets of urban India”.
MPA has also estimated that the entire pay-TV sector’s revenue in India, including the subscription and advertising, declined 10% year-on-year in 2020 to $ 8.9 billion as the economic downturn post the covid-19 pandemic eroded advertising.
The recommencing of fresh content and live sports together with improvements in consumer and economic sentiment will lead to a sharp recovery in 2021. After a 25% contraction in 2020, pay-TV advertising will grow at 12% CAGR over 2020-25, the report said.
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During 2020, the pay-TV broadcasters generated $ 4.4 billion in total revenue out of which 62% came from advertising and 38% came from subscription, down 17% year-on-year.
The report said that Indian could expect a sharp recovery over the next two years with the channel business; advertising will primarily drive this expansion.
