A further 338mn homes worldwide took up digital TV services between 2006 and 2010, according to a new report from Digital TV Research, taking the total for the 73 countries covered by the report to 576mn.
Penetration of digital TV services climbed from 18.9% at the end of 2006 to 42.5% at the end of last year, although only Finland was completely digital, according to the report. There were an estimated 203mn homes worldwide subscribing to digital cable TV services by the end of 2010, followed by 139mn homes subscribing to pay digital DTH, and 97mn receiving free digital DTH. Pay IPTV services meanwhile are thought to have reached 35mn subscribers globally.
However, analogue terrestrial TV services were still the most popular by the end of 2010, accounting for 35.9% of the world's TV households (or 486mn homes), with analogue cable second at 21.4% (290mn). Digital cable was the most popular digital TV platform, accounting for 14.9% of total TV households (203mn), followed by pay digital DTH with 10.3% (139mn).
Out of the 338mn digital TV households added between 2006 and 2010, 169mn were in the Asia Pacific region, according to the report, bringing its total to 218mn. China became the largest digital TV household nation in 2010, and also had the most pay-TV subs by the end of last year with 195mn. The US and India were the only other countries with more than 100mn pay-TV subscribers.
Total worldwide pay-TV revenues reached USD 155bn by the end 2010, up from USD 124bn in 2006, with cable (analogue and digital) generating the highest revenues by platform last year with USD 76bn. Cable TV revenues are however believed to be flattening, and DTH is predicted to overtake it in 2011. IPTV revenues are estimated to have reached USD 6bn in 2010, up from less than USD 1bn in 2006.
Penetration of digital TV services climbed from 18.9% at the end of 2006 to 42.5% at the end of last year, although only Finland was completely digital, according to the report. There were an estimated 203mn homes worldwide subscribing to digital cable TV services by the end of 2010, followed by 139mn homes subscribing to pay digital DTH, and 97mn receiving free digital DTH. Pay IPTV services meanwhile are thought to have reached 35mn subscribers globally.
However, analogue terrestrial TV services were still the most popular by the end of 2010, accounting for 35.9% of the world's TV households (or 486mn homes), with analogue cable second at 21.4% (290mn). Digital cable was the most popular digital TV platform, accounting for 14.9% of total TV households (203mn), followed by pay digital DTH with 10.3% (139mn).
Out of the 338mn digital TV households added between 2006 and 2010, 169mn were in the Asia Pacific region, according to the report, bringing its total to 218mn. China became the largest digital TV household nation in 2010, and also had the most pay-TV subs by the end of last year with 195mn. The US and India were the only other countries with more than 100mn pay-TV subscribers.
Total worldwide pay-TV revenues reached USD 155bn by the end 2010, up from USD 124bn in 2006, with cable (analogue and digital) generating the highest revenues by platform last year with USD 76bn. Cable TV revenues are however believed to be flattening, and DTH is predicted to overtake it in 2011. IPTV revenues are estimated to have reached USD 6bn in 2010, up from less than USD 1bn in 2006.
