cover story_cover story 25/02/2016 18:37 Page 5
Content exclusivity key to MENA
pay-TV growth
L
egitimate pay-TV operators in the Middle East and North Africa are
increasingly relying on exclusive content rights to gain subscribers,
according to a new report from Digital TV Research. This is especially true
for satellite TV platforms such as beIN and OSN. Dipping into the deep pockets of
its owners, beIN in particular has been successful in building its subscriber base
in a short period of time.
Simon Murray, author of the fifth edition of the Digital TV Middle East & North
Africa Forecasts report, said: “Gaining subscribers in the MENA is no mean feat as
piracy remains rampant in most countries. More than half of the region’s homes
receive free-to-air satellite TV signals. Furthermore, established pay-TV operators now
have to compete against new platforms as several IPTV operators put greater emphasis
on SVoD than on traditional linear channel packages.”
Despite these hurdles, the number of pay-TV homes across the 20 countries
covered in the report will double between 2010 and 2021 to 20.9m, with Turkey
accounting for 37% of the 2021 total. From the 5.40m pay-TV homes to be added
between 2015 and 2021, 1.98m will come from Turkey, 0.63m from Uzbekistan and
0.59m from Egypt.
About a fifth of TV households legitimately paid for TV signals by end-2015. This
proportion will climb to 24.2% by 2021. Qatar will record 80% pay-TV penetration by
2021, with Georgia (69%), Israel (68%) and the UAE (62%) also high. However, pay-TV
penetration will be below 10% of TV households in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco,
Syria and Tunisia.
Legitimate pay-TV revenues will climb by 82% between 2010 and 2021 to $5.02
Source: Digital TV Research Ltd.
billion. However, growth will only be 25% between 2015 and 2021. Turkey and Israel
are expected to contribute 45% of the region’s pay-TV revenues in 2021; down from
52% in 2015 and 63% in 2010.
From the $1.028 billion pay-TV revenues to be added between 2015 and 2021,
Turkey will supply $206m, the UAE $141m and Saudi Arabia $194m. Revenues in
Israel will fall slightly over this period as a result of greater competition and the
conversion of subscribers to bundles (which means lower TV revenues per subscriber).
Satellite TV will continue to dominate pay-TV revenues, taking nearly two-thirds of
the 2021 total (similar to the 2015 proportion). Satellite TV revenues will be $3.21
billion in 2021, up by $0.62 billion on 2015 [