The total pay-TV services revenue in India is expected to grow at a lethargic compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.7% from US$3.19bn in 2020 to US$3.30bn in 2025 due to growing user substitution to OTT platforms, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s India Telecom Operators Country Intelligence Report reveals that though pay-TV services revenues will decline by 0.6% year-on-year in 2020 due to user substitution to OTT platforms for new content during the COVID-19 restrictions, the projected rise in the direct-to-home (DTH) and Internet Protocol television (IPTV) subscriptions will support growth in the overall pay-TV services market over 2020-2025.

Operators have also been focusing on offering over-the-top (OTT) content as a bundled service with pay-TV plans to drive pay-TV services adoption.

Deepa Dhingra, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Cable will be the leading pay-TV technology in India throughout the forecast period, followed by DTH. IPTV subscriptions will grow at the fastest CAGR of 19.4% during 2020-2025, supported by increasing fixed broadband penetration in the country which supports delivery of IPTV services.”

India’s pay-TV market is highly fragmented, with over a 50% of share in the total pay-TV subscription being held by several smaller players in 2020.

Ms Dhingra concludes: “Dish TV will lead the pay-TV market in India during 2020-2025, supported by its outstanding reach in the DTH segment and strong focus on expansion of pay-TV services portfolio with higher quality localized content. For example, it recently added six new HD channels to its DTH platform targeting users from the Southern region.”