Asia Pacific predicted to add 205 million SVoD subscribers by 2027

Asia Pacific SVoD subscribers by 2027 (million)

The number of SVoD subscriptions in Asia Pacific will rise to 764 million by 2027, an increase of 205 million on 2021’s figure, according to UK analysis firm Digital TV Research.

China will have 364 million SVoD subscriptions by 2027, accounting for 49% of the region’s total, followed by India with 176 million subs, Digital TV Research said.

By international platform, the company expects Disney+ will have 65.9 million subscribers in Asia Pacific by 2027, followed by Amazon’s Prime Video with 53.6 million, Netflix with 50.8 million, HBO Max with 7.7 million, Paramount+ with 4.3 million and Apple TV+ with 3.1 million. Other platforms combined are tipped to reach 91.2 million subs by 2027.

Previous forecasts, assuming Disney+ retained the rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL), estimated 127 million Disney+ subscribers in Asia Pacific by 2027. However, that estimate is now 61 million lower since the IPL rights were not retained.

Disney+ overtook Netflix in subscriber terms in 2020, almost entirely due to its success in India with the IPL on Disney+ Hotstar. The platform will lose 4.5 million subscribers in 2022 and 10 million in 2023 before plateauing, Digital TV Research expects.

Excluding the international platforms, the number of local SVoD subscribers in India is expected to total 105 million by 2027. The 364 million figure in China remains the same as none of the international platforms are present there, meaning all SVoD subscriptions there are with local streamers.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “The six major US-based platforms – Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+, HBO Max, Amazon’s Prime Video and Apple TV+ – will only control a quarter of Asia Pacific’s SVoD subscriptions by 2027, much lower than in any other region in the world. These platforms will never gain access to China, and India has plenty of local players.”