LONDON—Global pay-TV revenue will fall to $150 billion in 2025, from a peak of $202 billion in 2016, despite the addition of 35 million additional subscribers, according to the latest report from Digital TV Research.
The research company predicts pay-TV revenue declines in 61 countries from 2019 - 2025. And in the U.S., it’s forecasting a revenue drop over that five-year span of 35%, to around $57.4 billion.
A year ago, Digital TV Research projected that U.S. pay TV revenue would decrease to about $75.7 billion by 2024—the domestic industry’s projected rate of decline has clearly picked up, at least in the eyes of Digital TV Research.
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According to Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, the “losses” are largely accounted for, in many cases, by telecom service providers shifting their priorities to broadband products
“Much of the losses are down to subscribers converting from standalone TV to a bundle where they pay more overall to the operator but less on TV services. Cord-cutting is also a major problem, especially in the U.S.,” Murray said.
The research company also predicted U.S. satellite TV revenue to decline by $18 billion from 2019-2025.
“Our forecasts assume that professional sports will restart in August following relaxations in the COVID-19 lockdown. If this does not happen, then pay-TV will experience considerable churn,” Murray added.
This story originally appeared on TVT's sister publication Next|TV.
