Healthy subscription growth across emerging markets will be offset by slower growth or decline in pay-TV subscriptions in developed markets, causing household pay-TV penetration in the entire Asia-Pacific (APAC) region to stagnate at 66% through 2019-2024, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Emerging APAC markets like Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand with low pay-TV household penetration levels will see considerable growth in pay-TV subscriptions over the forecast period, driven by rising adoption of Internet Protocol television (IPTV) services in these countries.

GlobalData’s Thailand Telecom Operators Country Intelligence report reveals that while the country’s pay-TV household penetration of 23.0% is far below the regional average, its pay-TV subscription is expected to grow at a healthy compounded average growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2% over 2019-2024.

Deepa Dhingra, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Developed markets such as Hong Kong and Australia will see steady decline in pay-TV subscriptions due to cord-cutting and popularity of over-the-top (OTT) video streaming platforms in their markets. Other major markets like China and South Korea with high household pay-TV penetration levels are expected to witness lethargic growth in subscriptions.”

GlobalData’s South Korea Telecom Operators Country Intelligence Report confirms that though the country has the highest pay-TV household penetration percentage of 175% in the region. However, the country will see its pay-TV subscriptions grow at only 1% CAGR over 2019-2024.

Dhingra concludes: “Growing consumer preference for OTT video services, which allow customers to pay only for the content they prefer to watch and access it across multiple devices like mobile handsets, laptops and tablets will compel pay-TV operators to offer more modular packages to better match consumer preferences for content and price, and embrace service convergence with OTT players.”