Cable Media - March 2018 20_CABLE MEDIA 2018 | Page 12

Research
Euro cable digitisation continues
Analysis of figures provided by IHS Markit indicate a continued decline in analogue TV subscribers for cable operators in the EU at the end of 2017 , with digital TV subscriber numbers continuing to experience growth as operators upgrade their networks with HFC and DOCSIS deployments .
Although operators experienced growth in
Internet and telephony subscriber numbers in 2017 compared with the previous year , overall TV subscribers were down at 55.5m compared with 55.6m .
Internet subscribers rose from 35.69m to 37.32m with telephony subscribers up from 27.76m to 28.59m , with total RGUs ( Revenue Generating Units ) up from 119.0m to 121.4m .
Digital TV subscribers continued to rise . Increased digitalisation of cable networks in Europe saw analogue fall to 14.04m and digital rising to 41.46m .
“ In Europe , pay-TV is still growing – the cord-cutting trend seen in North America has not spread ,” noted Maria Rua Aguete , executive director , media , service providers and platforms at IHS Markit , who added that although cable TV has been in decline , more European households use it as their primary mode of reception than any other distribution technology . “ Cable has also reduced its reliance on TV , with DOCSIS 3.0 ’ s success putting broadband on the path to becoming the operators ’ biggest revenue generator ,” she advised .
European Union : Cable operator subscribers
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Analogue TV
000s
27,640
25,436
22,111
19,555
14,037
Digital TV
000s
31,464
33,096
35,945
38,435
41,462
Total TV
000s
59,105
58,532
58,057
57,990
55,499
Internet
000s
29,417
31,325
33,628
35,687
37,318
Telephony
000s
23,799
25,185
26,769
27,743
28,587
Total RGUs
000s
112,321
115,042
118,454
121,419
121,404
Ongoing growth story 2016 2017 Growth rate %
© 2018 IHS Markit
Annual total digital subscription TV revenue (€ 000 )
7,923,168
8,555,068
7.98
Annual total on-demand revenue
389,275
461,162
18.47
Annual total TV revenue
10,530,934
10,749,736
2.08
Annual Internet revenue
7,682,170
8,064,168
4.97
Annual telephony revenue
4,660,307
4,612,661
-1.02
European SVoD 5-year outlook
The OTT subscription online VoD market in Europe should keep growing over the next five years . Kagan , the media research group within S & P Global Market Intelligence , projects the market to reach $ 6.8 billion (€ 5.55bn ) in revenues in 2022 , up from $ 3.9 billion in 2017 .
The main factors contributing to this development are the presence of localised Netflix throughout the region , the expansion of Amazon Prime Video as a stand-alone service , the debut of international OTT services such as Turner ’ s HBO and Naspers ’ Showmax as well as the strengthening of offerings from local media providers ( i . e . Sky ’ s NOW TV , ProSiebenSat . 1 ’ s Maxdome , etc .).
The report looks at 14 European markets : Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Ireland , Italy , Netherlands , Norway , Portugal , Spain , Sweden , United Kingdom , Poland and Russia . Highlights include :
• According to Kagan estimates , total paid subscriptions in the above group of countries will grow from 39.3 million in 2017 to 60.8 million in 2022 , a compound annual growth rate of 9.1 %. This number represents paid subscriptions to online video services and excludes registered accounts through sale promotions or multiplay bundles .
• Netflix leads in active paying users in all countries but Germany , Poland and Russia . The online giant has been investing heavily in local content in the majority of the European markets where it operates .
• Amazon Prime Video leads in Germany – having capitalised on the earlier success of Amazon Prime
• In Eastern Europe , local services have been able to dominate even when facing bigger international entrants . The majority of these services adopt a hybrid AVoD / TVoD / SVoD model focusing predominantly on advertising to generate revenues .
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