Despite legitimate pay-TV penetration in the region remaining at only 19%, the number of pay-TV subscribers in 20 MENA countries will increase from 17.32 million in 2022 to 19.20 million in 2028, reveals a study from Digital TV Research.
As the battle against widespread piracy in the region continues, the Middle East and North Africa Pay TV Forecasts report found that traditional pay-TV subscribers are now converting to SVOD platforms.
Looking at platforms, Digital TV Research calculated that about 62% of the region’s TV households will receive free-to-air satellite TV signals by 2028. FTA satellite penetration is highest in the Arabic-speaking countries. Another fifth of the region’s TV households will take FTA DTT. IPTV subscribers overtook pay satellite TV in 2022.
In absolute terms, the regional IOPTV market is set to have 7.691 million subs by 2028, compared with 5.972 million on pay satellite, 4.892 on digital cable and just 645,000 on pay DTT.
Pay-TV revenues are forecast to fall by 36% between peak year 2016 ($3.84 billion) and 2028 ($2.47 billion). This comes despite the number of pay-TV subscribers growing, which said the analyst meant that ARPUs were falling.
Looking at platforms, Digital TV Research calculated that about 62% of the region’s TV households will receive free-to-air satellite TV signals by 2028. FTA satellite penetration is highest in the Arabic-speaking countries. Another fifth of the region’s TV households will take FTA DTT. IPTV subscribers overtook pay satellite TV in 2022.
In absolute terms, the regional IOPTV market is set to have 7.691 million subs by 2028, compared with 5.972 million on pay satellite, 4.892 on digital cable and just 645,000 on pay DTT.
Pay-TV revenues are forecast to fall by 36% between peak year 2016 ($3.84 billion) and 2028 ($2.47 billion). This comes despite the number of pay-TV subscribers growing, which said the analyst meant that ARPUs were falling.
