By Jonathan Easton

Pay TV and online video subscriptions are set to pass 3 billion in 2027.

According to research house Omdia’s new Global: Pay TV & Online Video report, the global total increased 17.7 per cent from 1.14 billion at end-2020 to 1.34 billion at end-2021. It anticipates a further 10.5 per cent growth in 2022 to a total of 1.48 billion by year-end.

Looking ahead, Omdia forecasts show the global total will exceed 2 billion in 2027. Combined with pay TV subscriptions, which still exceed 1 billion, the combined global total will surpass 3 billion.

Global pay TV subscription numbers grew at a much slower rate by 0.6 per cent in 2021, from 1.02 billion to 1.03 billion. Omdia expects the pay TV market to exhibit slow decline looking ahead and forecasts subscription numbers to drop from the 1.03 billion figure to one billion in 2027, down by 1.9 per cent.

Of the 101 pay TV markets that Omdia tracks in most detail, the outcomes show significant fluctuations, with 55 countries still reporting subscription growth, 41 reporting decline and five essentially static. Over the next five years Omdia expects those contrasting fortunes to continue, with countries like Indonesia continuing to post solid increases, while others – most notably the US – seeing ongoing decline.

Senior principal analyst in Omdia’s TV & Online Video team Adam Thomas said: “Online video services are continuing to experience impressive growth levels and there is a lot more to come. Disney+ has enjoyed an incredibly successful launch but there are several more attractive territories for it to enter over the next couple of years. And the same goes for Paramount+, Peacock and several others. The prospects for the alliance of HBO Max with Discovery+ also looks exciting. There are numerous reasons to be positive for online video’s prospects over the next few years which are reflected in our forecasts.”