The 100 leading pay-television services in the informitv Multiscreen Index increased their combined subscriber base by 0.95% in the third quarter of 2015.
The services in the Multiscreen Index collectively account for around 380 million subscribing homes worldwide. They gained 3.74 million subscribers in the quarter. With most of the numbers now in, 59 of the 100 services in the Multiscreen Index reported net subscriber gains over the three-month period.
The top ten services in the United States that report numbers recorded a total net loss of 128,400 subscribers, which is just 0.15% of their base.
Across North, Central and South America there was a small gain of 0.19 million subscribers, although there was a net loss of 49,000 across the top ten services, which have 114.11 million between them.
Services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa added 1.51 million subscribers, with the top ten reporting a net gain of 354,000. Services in the United Kingdom added 172,000 subscribers.
The Asia-Pacific region reported the greatest gains, adding 2.03 million homes, led by increases for the leading operators in India, which claim 1.27 million additions between them.
“The number of subscribers across these services has been steadily rising at around 1% a quarter,” says Dr William Cooper, the editor of the informitv Multiscreen Index. “Although it seems like relatively modest growth, the majority of services in the Multiscreen Index are still adding subscribers.”
Operators are defending and extending their business by offering programming across multiple devices and displays.
Multiscreen Index now provide some form of multiscreen offering,” notes informitv analyst Dr Sue Farrell. “43 of the top 50 have a multiscreen service.”