Consolidation to accelerate in APAC pay TV market

The Asia-Pacific pay TV market is set to experience a period of accelerated consolidation in the face of deteriorating subscriber and revenue growth, according to research from Media Partners Asia.

The latest edition of the research and consulting group’s Pay TV Networks Channel Database finds that aggregate revenues across 13 of Asia’s major pay TV networks grew by a mere 1% in 2018 to around $4.9 billion. This compares to a 5% growth in 2017.

Meanwhile aggregate ebitda across the 13 operators declined by 5% for the second straight year to $900 million.

“Consumer demand for traditional pay-TV has been impacted forever by high-speed broadband, which is driving rapid increases in online video consumption as well as piracy,” Media Partners Asia executive director Vivek Couto said.

“These trends have intensified downward pressure across Asia’s pay-TV ecosystem, especially in Southeast Asia, led by Singapore and Malaysia, alongside secular shifts in

Australia and New Zealand. This will accelerate consolidation as well as major shifts in how channels and content are marketed and sold.”

The company is predicting that a wave of consolidation will sweep Asia-Pacific over the next year.

“Future consolidation and rationalization will be defined by global moves and M&A possibilities involving large assets in India,” Couto said.

“Major players such as Discovery, CBS, Viacom, A+E, Sony and Universal are now competing for the consumer wallet with an increasingly scalable Disney and a newly integrated WarnerMedia within AT&T.”