Pay TV in flux: consumer behaviour, competitive dynamics and future trends

The pay-TV landscape is shifting fast, with traditional pay TV under increasing pressure worldwide due to the rise of OTT services (e.g. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video), albeit to varying degrees in different markets.

In this report we look at the key pay-TV consumer insights from our 2021 consumer survey, covering 10 key markets. Our survey finds price and content are the two most important factors when choosing a pay-TV subscription service. Unsurprisingly then, price also emerges as the top factor driving cord-cutting. From the survey, US streaming services are seen as leading the OTT charge worldwide. When it comes to viewing OTT at home, TV trumps the smartphone as the leading device. OTT services are also found to be among the top-three most popular add-on services on smartphones. High-quality OTT video is seen as one of the most appealing 5G use cases by consumers. 5G is helping shift the balance for OTT streaming away from Wi-Fi networks.

In addition, we consider what the future might hold for the pay-TV market. Our forecasts show that traditional pay-TV penetration growth will be mixed across markets. Providers of this service are mostly likely to opt for super-aggregation. Despite the pressure on traditional pay TV, relationships with such providers will remain important. OTTs will likely increasingly encroach on traditional pay TV’s sports turf, while the advantage that vMVPD OTTs have over traditional pay TV could erode further. Today, scale and reach have become increasingly important to compete in the streaming content wars and further consolidation will be likely in the future.

Explore the full dataset of the surveyed pay-TV population in the accompanying dashboard, which features prepared charts and is also viewable filtered by relevant segmentations, such as by market or demographics.