SNL Kagan: Robust global IPTV CAGR to continue

IPTV still serves only 6 percent of the global base of pay TV subscribers, but the sector has carried a 92.4 percent compound annual growth rate for the last six years and should maintain strong growth through 2014, according to research firm SNL Kagan.

Last summer, SNL Kagan forecasted the global IPTV market to reach about 60 million customers by 2013. In its most recent follow-up, the firm said that Western Europe alone will have 26.7 million IPTV households by 2014, making it the continuing regional leader in IPTV subscribers. However, China will have 12.4 million IPTV subscribers by 2014, SNL Kagan said, and other market research has suggested that China will surpass France later this year to become the single most successful country for IPTV sign-ups. As usual, several market research firms have weighed in with IPTV forecasts for the coming years, and the numbers vary widely.

The U.S. will drop to third place in IPTV subscriptions by 2014, SNL Kagan said, while Latin America and Eastern Europe will see subscriber jumps of 114 percent and roughly 24 percent CAGR respectively between last year and 2014.

SNL Kagan also said that IPTV service revenues will grow from $12.9 billion in 2010 to $27 billion in 2014, and will account for about 11 percent of global pay TV revenues.