MUMBAI: The worldwide pay-TV market grew at a steady pace in 2012 generating $238 billion by end-of-year, up from $223 billion in 2011, according to ABI Research‘s ‘Pay-TV ARPU and Revenues‘ Market Data.

The global pay-TV market is expected to generate $304 billion in 2018 with a CAGR of four per cent.

Service revenue contributions from cable TV are proving mixed. The Asia-Pacific region saw service revenue growth due to underlying increase in subscriptions. However, cable TV operators in North America are experiencing a decline in service revenue as result of a contracting subscriber base, despite cable TV innovations such as DVR and HDTV.

Globally, IPTV is gaining market share year-over-year while the rest of the pay-TV platforms are slowly contracting. IPTV service revenue market share increased from 10 per cent in 2011 to 11.5 per cent in 2012. Cable TV market share dropped to 47 per cent in 2012 from 48.5 per cent in 2011 while satellite TV market share dropped around one per cent.

ABI Research VP, practice director of core forecasting Jake Saunders said, "Availability of super-fast broadband networks and bundle offers from telcos over high-speed networks are driving the growth of IPTV adoption. IPTV market share is expected to increase to 18 per cent in 2018, to generate $53 billion in revenue".

ABI Research analyst Khin Sandi Lynn said, "Based on ABI Research‘s global Pay-TV market share analysis, satellite giant DirecTV ranks top in terms of Pay-TV service revenue across all platforms. In the global IPTV sector, Verizon is the top ranked IPTV operator with the highest service revenue".