As per Digital TV Research, the number of pay TV subscribers in 20 MENA (Middle East/North Africa) countries will increase from 17.32 million in 2022 to 19.20 million in 2028. Legitimate pay TV penetration will remain at only 19%. IPTV subscribers overtook pay satellite TV in 2022.

 
About 62% of the region’s TV households will receive free-to-air satellite TV signals by 2028. FTA satellite penetration is highest in the Arabic-speaking countries. Another fifth of the region’s TV households will take FTA DTT.
 
Pay TV revenues will fall by 36% between peak year 2016 ($3.84 billion) and 2028 ($2.47 billion). This comes despite the number of pay TV subscribers growing – which means that ARPUs are falling.
 
Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Legitimate pay TV penetration will remain low in the MENA region. First was the battle against widespread piracy. Traditional pay TV subscribers are now converting to SVOD platforms.”