Analyst Report Broadcasting News

SES reaches 369m homes worldwide

In Africa, satellite continues to drive an increase in the number of direct-to-home (DTH) TV homes.

SES has announced the results of its annual Satellite Monitor market research, a survey that tracks satellite TV’s reach across a wide range of global regions and industry metrics. SES now delivers more than 8,000 channels to a total of 369m TV homes worldwide, an increase of 3m over the previous year, confirming SES’s position as a major content connectivity provider in the media industry.

The overall growth was driven primarily by increases in Europe (+6.3m) and Africa (+3m), with stabilisation in Latin America and Asia-Pacific. The reach in North America (-5.4m) continues to decline due to the ‘cord cutting’ trend and the continued expansion of fibre connectivity in the United States.

In all, SES now addresses 49.5m homes in Africa, 33.1m in the Asia-Pacific region, 44m in Latin America, 13.4m in the Middle East, 53.2m in North America and 175.8 in Europe.

As fibre connectivity expands globally, IPTV continues to grow as a TV reception method, taking a share from traditional cable TV.

In Africa, satellite continues to drive an increase in the number of direct-to-home (DTH) TV homes as an easily scalable and cost-effective method of TV reception. In Ethiopia, SES has gained 90% penetration of TV homes through its partner Ethiosat.

Commenting on the findings of the report, Norbert Hölzle, Global Head of Media at SES, said: “For years, we have been collecting data and insight from the annual Satellite Monitor market research on our TV neighbourhoods and the shifting market dynamics around video delivery and consumption trends. We do this because we believe we can add value to our customers with this data and empower them to make informed business decisions on the best way to deliver content to a large audience in the most cost-effective way.”