Infonetics: Global pay-TV revenues hit $240B in 2010

Despite the attraction of over-the-top video service, the pay-TV market is continuing to grow worldwide, with 2010 revenues for IPTV, cable and satellite operators estimated at $240 billion.

"We're seeing continued growth in the pay-TV market, driven by providers' ability to offer voice/video/data service bundles, a broad range of linear and on-demand content, and advanced services, such as multi-room DVR and multi-screen video delivery," said Teresa Mastrangelo, directing analyst for video at Infonetics Research. "Although cable MSOs continued to be challenged by competition from IPTV and satellite operators, the overall market remains robust, despite the attractiveness of over-the-top services."

Worldwide market revenues grew 11 percent from 2009, Mastrangelo said, with IPTV growth seeing the strongest revenue growth at 45 percent in 2010. Satellite also saw strong growth, increasing 13 percent from a year ago.

But cable video services, as they historically have, continued to claim the lion's portion of revenue, although Infonetics said growth in the segment was slowing.

Among Infonetics' other findings:
DIRECTV, which enjoys the highest video service ARPU in the industry, is the global leader for video service revenue

  • The top 20 revenue leaders account for 53% of total video services revenue
  • With more than 22.8 million video service subscribers worldwide, Comcast maintains its lead in the race for subscribers
  • In 2010, the fastest growing video services markets were in Asia Pacific and Central and Latin America, driven by analog-to-digital conversion activity and strong new subscriber growth in markets such as Brazil, India, Malaysia, and Mexico.

    For more:
    - see this release

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