SVOD set to boom in emerging markets

There will be a five-fold increase in SVOD revenues across emerging markets between 2014 and 2019, according to new research.

Pyramid forecasts that cumulative emerging market SVOD revenues will total US$18.8 billion in the five-year forecast period with markets in Asia Pacific and Latin America accounting for the bulk of that amount.

Having surveyed Africa and the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America, Pyramid said China, Russia, Brazil and Mexico “offer the most scale and growth potential over the next five years”.

The research house noted that paid VOD and hybrid paid and advertising models are gaining traction in emerging markets as pure ad-based systems become difficult to sustain given the rising cost of content.

Improved broadband infrastructure and network speed are also spurring SVOD launches. It said that most OTT viewing will be over fixed broadband although WiFi will become a key enabler of viewing on mobile connected devices,

Pyramid added that incumbent pay TV operators in emerging markets should look to add third-party OTT services to their own offerings. “In order to reinforce their market position, all pay TV operators should consider aggregating third-party OTT services within the main service portfolio in addition to standalone OTT propositions,” it said.