The number of digital TV homes will increase by 1.08 billion between 2010 and 2021 to 1.67 billion – or up by 185 percent, according to the new edition of the “Digital TV World Household Forecasts” report. Covering 138 countries, the digital TV total will climb by 120 million in 2016 alone – and by half a billion between 2015 and 2021, according to research firm Digital TV Research.
The company forecasts global digital TV penetration will reach 98.3 percent of TV households by 2021, up from 40.4 percent at end-2010 and 74.6 percent at end-2015. By 2021, 98 countries will be completely digital compared with only 24 at end-2015 and two at end-2010, according to the report.
Digital TV Research predicts that the Asia Pacific region will drive a huge amount of the growth, with the number of digital TV households in the that region increasing by 314 million between 2015 and 2021, with 84 million to be added in 2016 alone. That would mean the region will supply nearly two-thirds of the 497 million global digital TV household additions between 2015 and 2021.