BB: From 2013 to 2018 Pay TV in Latin America only had a CAGR of 2.7%

Since BB launched its BB Media Day events in Miami in 2013, Pay TV went from having 79 million subscribers in Latin America, revenues of US$21 billion and penetration of 50%, to 90 million subscribers, US$22 billion in revenues and a penetration of 51% in 2018 (from 2013 to 2018, the compound annual growth rate -CAGR- was only 2.7%).

“It’s a flat industry,” said Tomás Gennari, executive VP of BB, adding that by 2023 the forecast for pay TV in Latin America is of 94.5 million subscribers, total revenues will not grow (they will still be US$ 22 billion). a penetration of 52% and a CAGR of 1.6%.

He indicated that there is a downward trend on the ARPU, particularly regarding the basic subscriber, which by 2023 will reach US$19. He said that the main reason for the cord-cutting is that respondents argue that pay TV is expensive. He added that there will be a prepayment growth over postpaid, the Heptaplay effect, penetration will remain stagnant and a mature market, there will be a price war among the MSOs, the price pressure will be transferred to content providers and the MSOs will offer segmented packages and skinny bundles, while the channels will seek to launch their own apps.

“Small and secondary channels would be affected in such a scenario. You must be prepared for this” Gennari said.

He said that to date BB is monitoring 280 OTT platforms in the region (in 2012 they started supervising between 30 and 40). Of these platforms, some 101 are hybrid, 58 are from TV everywhere, 49 free VOD, 40 are SVOD, 10 are TVOD and four are of another type.