Asia Pacific to add 440 million digital TV

According to a new report from Digital TV Research, Asia Pacific is undergoing a
digital TV boom that will see penetration increase from 36% in 2011 to 83% in
2017 – or up by 440 million homes. Digital TV Asia Pacific forecasts that China
alone will provide 268 million of the additional digital TV homes, with India adding
82 million.
Of the 440 million digital homes to be added between 2011 and 2017, 103 million
will come from DTT. Digital cable will contribute a further 195 million, with pay
DTH supplying a 34 million more and pay IPTV 86 million. By contrast, the region
will lose 152 million analog cable homes and 196 million analog terrestrial ones.
China and India have a massive influence over the region, due principally to their
1 billion-plus populations. By 2017, they will provide 541 million digital TV homes
combined – or three-quarters of Asia Pacific’s total.
Report author Simon Murray said: “Despite the rapid conversion, digital TV will still
have plenty of room for growth for some time to come. Only half of the countries
covered in this report will have fully converted to digital by 2017. By then,
Indonesia and the Philippines will still have analog penetration of 70% and 64%
respectively. China will have 24 million analog homes and India 57 million.”
So pay TV penetration will rise from 53% in 2011 to 67% in 2017, adding 165
million subs to take the total to 569 million. China will provide 315 million pay TV
households, with India supplying a further 145 million. However, pay TV
penetration will be higher in South Korea (93%) and Singapore (90%). Legitimate
pay TV penetration will be lowest in Indonesia (23%), with the Philippines the next
lowest at 27%. Piracy remains a serious problem.
Pay TV revenues in Asia Pacific will be US$11.7 billion higher in 2017 (US$40.7
billion total) than in 2011. Japan (US$10.6 billion) will remain market leader in
2017, followed by China (US$9.7 billion) and India (US$7.1 billion). However, pay
TV revenues will be flat in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.