Middle East / North Africa: revenues from pay-TV revised downwards (from $5bn to $4bn in 2021)

Revenues from pay-TV in the Middle East and North Africa are expected to reach $4bn in 2021 (€3.74bn), a total figure revised downward compared to the previous version of a study published in January 2016 which estimated pay-TV revenues at $5bn (€4.67bn), according to an extract from a study of the television market in the MENA region, published by Digital TV Research Institute on 06/02/2017.

This downward revision is mainly due to "long-running conflicts and slower economic growth, several countries (notably Turkey and Egypt) have suffered substantial currency devaluation. OTT is creating competition to traditional pay TV operators, especially in Israel. It’s not all bad news, with Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE enjoying good growth," said Simon Murray, an analyst at Digital TV Research.

Four countries account for 90% of the downward revision of estimated pay-TV revenue in 2021:
• Turkey (-$361m, compared to the previous edition, or -€342m)
• Israel (-$220m, or -€208.5m)
• United Arab Emirates (-$174m, or -€165m)
• Saudi Arabia (-$149m, or -€141m)

• The study was conducted…