Pay-TV revenues in Eastern Europe are expected to peak in 2019, Digital TV Research has found.
The Eastern Europe Pay-TV Forecasts report projected peak revenues of $6.95 billion, before falling to $6.59 billion by 2024.
The report also suggested that “Eastern Europe is slowly ridding itself of the legacy of analogue cable TV,” whose revenues are forecast to drop by $844 million by 2024.
In 2018, Eastern Europe had 17.67 million analogue cable subscribers; this is expected to fall to 568,000 by 2024. The number of digital pay-TV subscribers will increase by 21 per cent over the same period to 78 million.
Russia will account for half of the region’s pay-TV subscribers in 2024, although the country will lose 2.88 million pay-TV subscribers between 2018 and 2024.
Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Tough times continue in Eastern Europe, with poor job prospects forcing many to seek work abroad.
“This migration married with low birth rates mean that the number of TV households will fall in 18 countries between 2018 and 2024 – with the region’s TV households dropping by 2.5 million.
“The number of pay-TV subscribers in Eastern Europe will decline from 82.33 million at end-2018 to 78.64 million in 2024. Not great news but better than the US situation,” he added.
