SES now delivers almost 8,400 TV channels – including 3,130 in HD or UHD – to a total of 366 million TV homes worldwide.
This, according to the company’s annual Satellite Monitor market research, was 5 million more homes than a year earlier. The increase of TV households served by SES can be attributed to the growing reach in Africa (+9.1 million), APAC (+1 million) and Latin America (+1.7 million), where DTH satellite platforms and IPTV continue to gain traction as leading TV reception methods.
In SES’s key European market via 19.2 degrees East, SES continues to reach 117 million homes, delivering content to half of all TV homes in the market via satellite, cable or IPTV. Meanwhile, SES’s reach to TV homes in North America is down by 6 million as American audiences turn toward online streaming alternatives.
In Africa, SES continues to expand its satellite reach due to the growth of Ethiopian FTA offering, including the country’s first dedicated TV platform Ethiosat. SES says it has also led an intensive programme to get TV viewers in Ethiopia to repoint their dishes at the satellite positioned at 57 degrees East for the past two years and is currently serving a predominant number of satellite TV homes in Ethiopia.
SES also identifies the following trends:
TV home evolution in Africa – TV penetration across markets in Africa, such as Ethiopia, Nigeria and Ghana, has soared by 27% since 2017 as satellite gains popularity as the leading means of TV reception.
FTA in Europe – As more turn to OTT packages, FTA satellite TV remains stable in Europe over the last five years, underscoring the value proposition of satellite TV and the complementary nature of OTT.
IPTV growth – IPTV continues to grow across Europe as an emerging distribution method, whereas DTT declined.
Commenting on the findings of the Satellite Monitor, Deepak Mathur, executive VP of global video sales at SES, said: “For almost three decades we have been publishing the Satellite Monitor market research on a yearly basis, enabling our video customers from all over the world to leverage the impartial data to make informed decisions about their business. These additional insights, combined with our premium fleet of satellites’ ability to deliver content in the most cost-effective way to the widest possible audiences, demonstrate why leading broadcasters continue to extend and expand their partnerships with us. This underscores the solidity of our video business for the years to come”.
