Half of Paid Broadcast Subscribers Use IPTV...Telecom 3 Companies' Market Share Grows

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] It has been found that half of the paid broadcasting subscribers use Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) through the three major telecommunications companies.

On the 19th, the Korea Communications Commission announced the "2019 Broadcasting Market Competition Status Evaluation" containing this information.

First, the subscriber growth rate of IPTV provided by the three major telecommunications companies stood out. IPTV subscribers numbered 15.66 million, accounting for 47.8%, while cable TV operator (SO) subscribers totaled 13.8 million (42.2%). The number of IPTV subscribers surpassed SO subscribers by nearly 2 million. In 2018, the total number of paid broadcasting subscribers was 32.72 million, showing a 3.5% increase compared to the previous year.

The broadcasting business revenue of paid broadcasting operators recorded 6.0808 trillion KRW, an 8.0% increase from the previous year. Among these, SO revenue was 2.0898 trillion KRW, a 1.9% decrease. IPTV revenue was 3.4358 trillion KRW, a 17.5% increase. When classifying paid broadcasting products based on product characteristics, digital product paid broadcasting subscribers numbered 26.6 million, low-cost product (8VSB) subscribers were 5.86 million, and analog subscribers were 270,000.

Upon completion of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) among broadcasting operators, the subscriber rankings by paid broadcasting operators are expected to be KT affiliates at 10.22 million (31.2%) in first place, LG Uplus and LG Hello at 8.06 million (24.6%) in second place, and SK Broadband and T-broad at 7.83 million (23.9%) in third place. The number of digital paid broadcasting market areas is projected to be 34 for KT affiliates, 17 for SK Broadband and T-broad, and 13 for LG Uplus and LG Hello.

The total channel provision revenue in 2018 was 1.0366 trillion KRW, an 8.7% increase from 953.3 billion KRW the previous year. The revenue of general broadcasting channel usage operators (PP), such as home shopping and radio, was 718.2 billion KRW. By broadcasting channel, CJ affiliates ranked first with 210.1 billion KRW (20.3%), MBC affiliates second with 148.3 billion KRW (14.3%), KBS affiliates third with 143.9 billion KRW (13.9%), SBS affiliates fourth with 118.2 billion KRW (11.4%), and JoongAng affiliates fifth with 40.4 billion KRW (3.9%).

The total advertising market size was 10.8701 trillion KRW, a 5.2% increase from 10.3333 trillion KRW the previous year. Among these, the broadcasting advertising market increased by 3.0% to 2.973 trillion KRW from 2.8868 trillion KRW the previous year, and the mobile advertising market increased by 4.4% to 2.8011 trillion KRW.