Pay-TV service revenue in Thailand is expected to grow at a healthy compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5% from US$734m in 2021 to US$1.1bn in 2026, supported by growing direct-to-home (DTH), Cable TV and Internet-protocol-television (IPTV) subscriptions, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s Thailand pay-TV Forecast Model indicates that both Cable TV and IPTV revenues will increase at a CAGR of 4.7% and 41.3%, respectively, during 2021-2026 period.

Despite an increase in total pay-TV revenue, the average monthly spend per pay-TV account will fall from US$8.75 to US$7.56 between 2021 and 2026, owing to the competitive pricing strategies being adopted by pay-TV operators to retain their subscriber base.

Aasif Iqbal, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData, says: “DTH will remain the leading platform to deliver pay-TV services in Thailand in 2021, However, IPTV subscriptions will surpass DTH subscriptions in 2023 and will go on to account for 56.6% share of the total pay-TV subscriptions by the end of 2026. This growth will be driven by the rising adoption of multi-play packages with integrated IPTV services, as operators like TrueOnline promote fixed broadband bundles with access to IPTV services.

“TrueVisions will lead the pay-TV market and account for an estimated 31.8% share of the total pay-TV subscriptions in 2021. The operator will maintain its leadership in pay-TV segment given its high subscriber share in all the three segments i.e., DTH, Cable-TV and IPTV and focus on distributing premium content to Thai users to compete with OTT video platform providers in the pay-TV market.”