Asia Pacific OTT revenues tipped to triple

Over-the-top video revenues in Asia Pacific are set to triple between 2016 and 2022, driven largely by growth in China, according to Digital TV Research.

The Asia Pacific OTT TV and Video Forecasts report claims that OTT revenues from TV episodes and movies will climb from US$8.27 billion in 2016 to US$24.4 billion in 2022 – with a nearly US$3 billion increase expected in 2017 alone.

China is expected to be responsible for half the OTT revenues in the 22 countries covered in the report by 2022, up from just over a third of revenues in 2016.

“China and Japan together will account for two-thirds of the region’s total revenues by 2022,” according to the research.

The OTT market in Asia Pacific is roughly split between advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) and subscription VOD (SVOD).

“SVOD will be the leader in 2017 and 2018, but AVOD will regain the crown from 2019. China will supply 61% of the region’s AVOD revenues by 2022 – or US$7.27 billion,” said the report.

Overall, Asia Pacific SVOD revenues are tipped to climb from US$3.39 billion in 2016 to $9.09 billion in 2022, with China set to overtake Japan to become the SVOD revenue leader this year.

Digital TV Research estimates there will be 234 million SVOD subscribers in the region by 2022, up from 91 million in 2016.

China is expected to have 139 million SVOD subscribers in 2022, equating to roughly 59% of the region’s total.

India and Japan will together account for another 50 million, leaving the remaining 44 million subscribers to be divided among the remaining 19 countries.