Research |
to the Western Europe Pay TV
Forecasts report from analyst
firm Digital TV Research .
Reflecting the importance of
high-speed broadband for
homes , IPTV is the top pay-TV
platform by subscribers .
IPTV will gain 4m subscribers
between 2020 and 2026 to
reach 47m , with pay satellite TV
down by 5m to 18m and cable
down by 2m to 37m .
“ European operators shifted
their emphasis from premium
TV to high-speed broadband
delivery ,” advises Simon
Murray , principal analyst at
Digital TV Research . “ This is
particularly true in Denmark
and Italy – which are at
opposite ends of the pay TV
penetration spectrum – where
most operators promote OTT
platforms ahead of traditional
pay-TV ones .”
Pay-TV revenues will
decline by $ 4 billion – 15 % –
between 2020 and 2026 to
reach $ 23 billion . The pay-TV
subscriber count will drop by
4 %, so revenues will fall faster
– revealing lower TV ARPUs and
less emphasis on TV from the
operators .
W . Europe nears 122m OTT subs
Findings from Kagan , the
research unit of S & P Global
Market Intelligence , covering
multichannel television operators
across Western Europe , suggest
that the 16 countries in its
analysis had a combined 121.9m
paid subscriptions at the end of
2020 , with the United Kingdom ,
Germany and France occupying
the top three positions .
Michail Chandakas , associate
research analyst , and Vladimir
Ryazantsev , media research
analyst , note that over the last
five years , the total pay-TV base
in the region grew at a CAGR of
0.2 % to reach 108.6 million at the
end of 2020 , with IPTV driving
most of the growth at a 4.8 %
CAGR over the same period .
“ OTT is providing key content
owners such as The Walt Disney
Co ., Discovery , Paramount and
HBO , among others , with paid
content growth opportunities that
had waned on traditional pay-TV ,
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although at a cost — consumers can easily churn at any time ,” they advise .
According to Kagan , operators no longer consider subscription OTT services as adversarial competitors , therefore seeing distribution partnerships with certain providers as beneficial to both parties . “ For example , an operator that concentrates on triple-play bundles , in which three services are offered at a discounted price , might have a relatively basic channels package when compared to Netflix Inc . or Amazon Prime Video ,” they suggest .
“ An OTT partnership is likely to boost the video offer and act as a marketing strategy to attract subscribers to purchase more generic services , such as fixed broadband and fixed telephony . The most recent example of a big partnership deal was Vodafone ’ s January 2021 announcement that it will offer Discovery Inc .’ s subscription OTT service , discovery +, to over 100 million of its fixed and mobile subscribers in 12 European markets . Moreover , we are seeing operators , such as TalkTalk in the UK , drop their pay-TV offers , relying instead on a mix of OTT services and freeto-air TV ,” they say .
The 16 key markets examined in are Austria , Belgium , Denmark , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , Ireland , Italy , the Netherlands , Norway , Portugal , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland and the UK .
In recent years , global OTT players such as Netflix and Amazon have overtaken pay TV groups in the number of subscriptions in the region . Local broadcasters and multichannel providers have also managed to increase their subscription OTT market shares , riding the wave of consumers ’ shift from linear to on-demand viewing , which has resulted in households subscribing to more services on average compared to previous years .
As a result , Austria ,
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Denmark , Ireland , Italy , Norway ,
Spain , Sweden and the UK
had more OTT than pay TV
subscriptions at the end of
2020 . These are all either fastgrowing
or mature markets
when it comes to streamingvideo
uptake . We expect this
trend to continue , with OTT
subscriptions trailing behind
multichannel in only Belgium ,
Greece and Portugal in 2025 .
UK has strongest catchup TV market in Europe
Consumer research by Ampere
Analysis on the TV viewing
habits of Internet households
in Europe ’ s big five markets
reveals the rapid rate of change
in the media landscape in the
region .
In this snapshot of habits in
UK , France , Italy , Germany and
Spain , Ampere ’ s senior analyst ,
Annabel Yeomans picks four
key trends that have changed
over the last six months when
the region was in and out of
Covid-19 lockdowns .
1 . Streaming + pay-TV is now
the home TV viewing choice
for majority
• On average , over 80 % of
pay-TV households across
the UK , France , Spain ,
Italy and Germany also
subscribe to at least one
streaming service .
• France saw the highest
increase in uptake of SVoD
in pay-TV households in
the last year , with 72 % of
pay-TV households now
also taking SVoD in Q1
2021 , compared to 66 % in
Q1 2020 .
2 . Spot the ‘ Super Stackers ’
• The proportion of
Internet households with
three or more services
continues to rise .
• When taking into account
any streaming services
that are being paid-for
directly , borrowed , bundled
in free or trial accounts ,
the UK comes out in front .
Some 31 % of UK Internet
users have three or more
services , closely followed
by Spain at 28 % and Italy at
27 %. In Germany it ’ s 22 %
and in France it ’ s 16 %.
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3 . Viewing habits shift to online
• SVoD services in Europe are frequently used alongside broadcaster led catch-up services . A third ( 33 %) of Internet users in the big five European markets report watching both catch-up and SVoD services , although catchup-only viewers are in the minority .
• Just 9 % of Internet users watch catch-up services in a given month but don ’ t use SVoD products , while 34 % report using SVoD services alone .
• The UK is the strongest catch-up market in Europe , with almost half of consumers watching both SVoD and catch-up services . The UK is also the only market where the most-watched long-form streaming service is a local broadcaster ’ s catch-up platform , with BBC iPlayer ahead of Netflix . 4 . Content ‘ binging ’ is a fact , not a fad
• Six out of 10 consumers in Ampere ’ s research say they regularly watch several episodes of the same TV show back-to-back in Italy , France , the UK and Spain .
• Germany had the lowest proportion of binge watchers among the Europe big 5 , with 48 % of Internet users saying they watch several episodes of the same TV show back-toback . “ As online viewing increases in popularity in Europe , BVoD platforms can reach younger audiences who are not engaging via linear ,” advises Yeomans . However , to do this , they will have to change commissioning strategies to ensure they are providing content which appeals to this demographic . This may include online only content or genres which would not traditionally align with their linear platforms . If they do not pivot , they could lose further ground to SVoD services .”
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