MENA to add 2 million pay TV subs

The number of pay TV subscribers in 20 MENA countries will increase from 17.32 million in 2022 to 19.20 million in 2028. Legitimate pay TV penetration will remain at only 19%. IPTV subscribers overtook pay satellite TV in 2022.

About 62% of the region’s TV households will receive free-to-air satellite TV signals by 2028. FTA satellite penetration is highest in the Arabic-speaking countries. Another fifth of the region’s TV households will take FTA DTT.

Pay TV revenues will fall by 36% between peak year 2016 ($3.84 billion) and 2028 ($2.47 billion). This comes despite the number of pay TV subscribers growing – which means that ARPUs are falling.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Legitimate pay TV penetration will remain low in the MENA region. First was the battle against widespread piracy. Traditional pay TV subscribers are now converting to SVOD platforms.”