MENA pay-TV spikes in 05

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MENA pay-TV spikes in 2015 --

Mon, 23 May 2016 12:26

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According to a report from IHS, in the 13 countries covered by the annual report, revenues from pay-TV passed the billion-euro mark for the first time. Revenues from primary households subscriptions grew 37%, from 852 million in 2014 to 1.17 billion in 2015.

Pay-TV in the Middle East and North Africa region is growing rapidly and faster than any other region we analyse, said Constantinos Papavassilopoulos, senior analyst, IHS Technology.

IHS forecasts that pay-TV subscribers will increase to 6.54 million by the end of 2020, up 32% on the end of 2015 and representing a CAGR of 6% over the five-year period.

The opening of the Iranian TV market, a largely untapped market for pay-TV business, is providing a wealth of opportunities for the regional operators. According to local data sources, 71% of TV households in Tehran are equipped with a satellite dish. But there are still barriers to be surpassed.

The online video market is very nascent, Papavassilopoulos said. IHS put broadband penetration at 56% of households at the end 2015. However, due to the Iranian government policy of regulating access to the internet for its citizens, broadband speeds are lower than in neighbouring Arab states. Content will also have to be carefully chosen to appeal to the Iranian audience. Simply repurposing content that was made for wider Arabic audiences will not work for Iran.

There is optimism both inside Iran and internationally that the lifting of sanctions will put added pressure on the government to relieve some of these restrictions, according to the IHS report. IHS forecasts that TV advertising revenues can grow from $275 million in 2015 to $627 million in 2020 if the normalisation of trade between Iran and the rest of the world continues. The TV market would benefit hugely, Papavassilopoulos said. Our forecast figures would represent a healthy CAGR of 18%.

IHS expects that the positive drive of the pay-TV market will continue persistently throughout MENA for the next five years, with revenues almost doubling to just over 2 billion in that time frame. The growth will be due to the enhanced level of competition between the major operators, the introduction of TV Audience Ratings Systems in the Gulf States, the expansion of fibre networks, which facilitate the offering of premium pay-TV services and the growth of the SVOD OTT services.

Clearly, there are big differences among markets in the region. A survey conducted across six countries (as opposed to IHS 13) by the North-western University in Qatar (NU-Q) in partnership with Doha Film Institute (DFI), actually found that average TV audiences are down by 5% since 2014. While almost all (95%) of nationals watch TV, the number of those who watch daily fell from 69% in 2014 to 64% in 2016.

Source: Rapid TV News

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