OTT services won't kill western EU pay-TV

Growing availability of over the top (OTT) video services won’t result in a mass exodus from pay-TV services in Western Europe, Analysis Mason predicts.
 
The research house forecasts the pay-TV subscriber base in the region will grow 9.2 million to 113.3 million between 2013 and 2018, but that OTT services will account for 5.6 million users by the end of the period despite the sector growing faster than the overall pay-TV market.
 
A breakdown of pay-TV subscriber growth by delivery technology shows the growth is not uniform. The firm predicts paying IPTV users will grow 6.2 million to 27.6 million over the forecast period, and satellite users by 1.1 million to 31.6 million. However, those gains are tipped to be offset by a fall of 2.9 million in analog cable subscribers (down to 43.6 million in total), and a loss of nearly half a million paying direct to TV (DTT) users (4.9 million).
 
Cesar Bachelet, senior analyst at Analysis Mason, explains that users are unlikely to abandon pay-TV services for OTT equivalents, but notes the effect of OTT services will be most heavily felt on secondary TV sets.