China is witnessing an exponential growth in digital video. Its subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) segment is attracting larger audiences compared to live streaming video which has also been growing rapidly.
The number of SVOD subscribers in China will reach 144.0 million this year according to projections from JP Morgan Chase & Co. This amounts to more than a quarter (26.9%) of the total digital video viewership. The number of SVOD users is still lagging behind cable TV subscribers by a substantial margin in 2017, however, that is expected to change over the firm’s forecast period. Further, the report suggests that the ranks of SVOD subscribers will grow by double-digit rates annually reaching a figure or 234.3 million by 2020. Cable TV subscribers are expected to decline in number from 253 million this year to 248 million by 2020.
According to JPMorgan Chase & Co’s report, iQiyi is expected to be the leader in China’s SVOD market this year, with 99.1 million subscribers, a rise of more than 120% as compared to 2016.
It is projected that Tencent Video will have 80.6 million paying subscribers this year and that figure is expected to rise to 172.2 million by 2020. By then iQiyi will be in the lead with close to 10 million subscribers. Read More
