Cord cutting is a real problem in the US, while in Europe the pay-TV market has stalled, said Yan Mostovoy, director, C&D Solutions, Harmonic.
Speaking at MBT 2019 in Budapest, Mostovoy highlighted the fact that most cord cutters in the US were moving to linear OTT. In the period 2016-17, traditional pay-TV lost 5.7 million subscribers, with linear OTT gaining 4.5 million over the same period.
At the end of 2017 linear OTT represented 6% of the pay-TV market.
Meanwhile in Europe, there is no major evidence of cord cutting despite the pay-TV market having stalled, with the main reason being price.
While pay-TV ARPU in the US is €80/month and linear OTT €30 a month, in Europe pay-TV ARPU is €15 a month, with only six countries being above €25 a month.
Mostovoy also said that linear OTT is growing in Europe but specifically in sports.
Linear OTT platforms are growing differently and instead of Linear 2.0 in Europe we find niche OTT applications gaining traction rapidly.
