Asia Pacific now largest TV market

The Asia Pacific region is now the world’s largest TV market and will pass the one billion TV sets mark this year, according to research by Informa Telecoms & Media. Asia Pacific is also the leading pay TV market, with 394 million pay TV homes at the end of 2011, according to Informa.

However, pay TV revenues in the region continue to lag more advanced markets. China and India together deliver the equivalent of only one fifth of the pay TV revenues of the US market, despite having a combined subscriber base three times as large as that of the US. According to Informa, Asia Pacific generated US$33.5 billion (€25.5 billion) in TV advertising revenues with a further US$33.1 billion coming from pay-TV revenues last year, making the regional TV market worth almost US$67 million.

While income levels are an important determinant of pay TV expenditure, Informa identifies piracy as another key inhibitor, explaining why Malaysia, with a digital pay TV infrastructure, can deliver high pay TV expenditure relative to income while China languishes near the bottom of the league.