VoD Will Be Key to Pay-TV Revenue Success in Emerging Markets

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -

By 2014, 84 percent of all pay-TV net additions will come from emerging markets, however a successful pay-TV VoD service in these markets will depend on a variety of factors, according to a new report by Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com), the telecom research arm of Light Reading Communications Network (www.lightreading.com).

Pay-TV Video on Demand in Emerging Markets: Service Provider Strategies, Business Models and Five-year Adoption Forecasts strives to answer whether there is a business case for pay-TV VoD in emerging markets. This 98-page report provides explicit explanations, examples, and case studies from a range of markets, including Brazil, Chile, China, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Poland, Russia, and the U.S. These cases highlight best practices that can be emulated to build incremental revenue streams with pay-per-view, NVoD, push VoD, a-la-carte, movies on demand, DVR and time-shifted TV, subscription VoD, free VoD, true VoD, and interactive VoD. The report also includes an update on the status of pay-TV adoption and revenue across emerging markets, setting the stage for an analysis of whether VoD can serve as a viable differentiator to help drive pay-TV demand or whether investments in the service are doomed to fail. It concludes with VoD and DVR adoption and revenue forecasts covering the world’s largest emerging markets measured by pay-TV revenue and adoption - Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and Russia - as well as forecasts for the U.S., the largest pay-TV market in the world. Download an excerpt of the report here: www.pyramidresearch.com/downloads.htm?id=1&sc=PR100909_VOD

“By 2014, emerging markets will account for 69 percent of the global subscription total, with 84 percent of all pay-TV net additions coming from these markets,” says Dan Locke, Senior Analyst at Pyramid Research and author of the report. “Almost half of the world’s pay-TV subscriptions come from Asia/Pacific, mostly from China and India. The next-largest emerging pay-TV nations are Russia, Egypt, Turkey, and Poland,” he adds.

Even though most pay-TV subscriptions are found in emerging economies, the revenue opportunity in these markets is considerably smaller than in developed ones, due to significantly lower pay-TV ARPS. “Low incomes make high prices for pay-TV unaffordable for most in developing markets, and free or inexpensive alternatives such as pirated content deters adoption even further,” Locke says. “As a result, only 20 percent of pay-TV revenue worldwide comes from emerging markets.”

“A successful pay-TV VoD service in an emerging market will depend on a variety of factors, including the network technology and architecture, content availability, consumer demand, and the competitive landscape,” explains Locke. “Despite lower attach rates in emerging markets than in the U.S., Pyramid believes sizeable revenue opportunities for VoD and DVR services still await due to the sizeable and largely untapped markets,” he adds. The report offers specific recommendations to operators, content providers, vendors, and investors.

Pay-TV Video on Demand in Emerging Markets: Service Provider Strategies, Business Models and Five-year Adoption Forecasts is part of Pyramid’s research report series and is priced at US$2490. It can be purchased online here: www.pyramidresearch.com/store/RPPayTVVoD0910.htm?sc=PR100909_RPVOD or through Amalia Vega via email at avega@pyr.com or telephone at +1-809-330-4520.

For more information about Pyramid Research’s products and services, please visit www.pyr.com or contact us at info@pyr.com.

About Pyramid Research

Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com) offers practical solutions to the complex demands our clients face in the telecommunications, media and technology industries. Our analysis is uniquely positioned at the intersection of emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models, powered by the bottom-up methodology of our market forecasts for over 100 countries - a distinction that has remained unmatched for more than 25 years. As the telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network, Pyramid Research works with Heavy Reading, providing the communications industry’s most comprehensive market data, trusted research and insightful technology analysis.

About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) is the leading online media, research, and focused event company serving the US$3 trillion worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technology and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading’s research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Expo London, The Tower Summit @ CTIA, and Optical Expo, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About TechWeb

TechWeb (techweb.com/aboutus), the global leader in business technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in our communities created around our global face-to-face events, Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat, and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network, Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and The Financial Technology Network; and the market leading, award-winning InformationWeek, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine, and Wall Street & Technology magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services including next-generation performance marketing, integrated media, research, and analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than US$2.5 billion.

*13.3 million business decision-makers: based on number of monthly connections

About United Business Media Limited

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM’s businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities - from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists - with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to www.unitedbusinessmedia.com.

Press contact: Jennifer Baker +1-617-871-1910 jbaker@pyr.com

Source: Pyramid Research

Jennifer Baker, +1-617-871-1910, jbaker at pyr.com