The number of worldwide pay-TV subscribers reported by the informitv Multiscreen Index rose by 1.68 percent (6.90 million) in the first quarter of 2016.
The latest figures show 60 of the 100 leading pay-television services in the latest Multiscreen Indexreport with net subscriber gains in the quarter. The greatest quarterly subscriber gains were in the Asia-Pacific region, where there were 5.35 million subscriber additions. Six operators in India added a total of 4.71 million between them, with SITI Cable Network reporting 1.1 million new digital subscribers.
The top ten services from the U.S. in the Multiscreen Index closed the first quarter with just 18,000 subscribers more than at the start of the year, but they were down by over 880,000 year on year. In the U.K. and Ireland, Sky and BT added 136,000 television subscribers, while Virgin Media and TalkTalk lost 21,000. CANAL+ in France lost the most subscribers in Europe, with its numbers declining by 200,000. Orange and Free added 234,000 subscribers in France.
“North, Central and South America still contribute over a third of the subscribers in the index,” said informitv analyst Dr. Sue Farrell. “They gained just 0.54 million subscribers, compared to 1.41 million in the first quarter a year ago.”
“The Multiscreen Index shows an overall gain in subscribers, with more services gaining rather than losing television subscribers,” said Dr. William Cooper, editor of the informitv Multiscreen Index. “Although mature markets like North America are relatively saturated, it shows that there is still room for growth in other regions.”
