According to the latest report titled Middle East and North Africa Pay TV Forecasts by Digital TV Research, the number of pay-TV subscribers in 20 MENA countries will increase from 17.32m in 2022 to 19.20m in 2028.
The report indicated that legitimate pay-TV penetration would remain at only 19 per cent, with IPTV subscribers overtaking pay satellite TV in 2022.
The report said that about 62 per cent of the region’s TV households will receive free-to-air satellite TV signals by 2028.
According to the report, FTA satellite penetration is highest in Arabic-speaking countries. Meanwhile, a fifth of the region’s TV households will take FTA DTT.
Pay-TV revenues will fall by 36 per cent between the peak year 2016 (US$3.84bn) and 2028 (US$2.47bn). This will come despite the growing pay-TV subscribers – which means that ARPUs are falling.
Commenting on the report’s findings, Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said, “Legitimate pay-TV penetration will remain low in the MENA region. First was the battle against widespread piracy. Traditional pay-TV subscribers are now converting to SVOD platforms.”
