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Global pay TV revenues hit $184 billion in 2012, Pay TV shows growth in last five years
NEW DELHI: The number of pay TV households (analog and digital) reached 772 million by 2012, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. The figure had been 585 million in 2008, according to Digital TV Research.
Asia Pacific increased by 126 million – or two-thirds of the global additions – during this period to bring its total to 433 million. North America (112 million) was the second largest region, although it only added four million.
India stood at the second place with 116.7 million households, after China with 232.8 million households, and followed by the United States with 100.2 million households.
The other countries in top 10 pay TV countries at end-2012 were Japan (25.1 million), Russia (23.6 million), Germany (21.8 million), Brazil (16.2 million), South Korea (16.1 million), the United Kingdom (14.4 million) and Mexico (13 million).
Pay TV revenues reached $184 billion in 2012, up by 28.5 per cent from $143 billion in 2008. Cable (analogue and digital combined) generated the highest revenues by platform, with $87 billion in 2012. However, cable revenues are flattening and DTH will overtake cable soon. IPTV revenues reached $12.0 billion in 2012, up from $2.8 billion in 2008.
North America generates about half the world‘s total pay TV revenues.
About 404 million digital homes were added around the world between 2008 and 2012. This took the digital TV household total for the 97 countries covered in the Digital TV World Databook to 786 million. Digital TV penetration of TV households climbed from 28.6 per cent at end-2008 to 54.7 per cent by end-2012.
However, there were still 652 million analogue TV households by end-2012, although this was down from 956 million at end-2008. There were still 411 million analogue terrestrial homes (down by 56 million year-on-year) and 242 million analogue cable ones (down by 33 million) at end-2012.Digital cable was in 273 million homes (up by 43 million on end-2011), followed by 178 million pay digital DTH (up by 20 million) and 118 million free-to-air digital DTH by end-2012. Pay IPTV brought in another 69 million households (up by 18 million).
Meanwhile, primary free-to-air DTT homes reached 138 million (up by 26 million), with pay DTT accounting for a further 9 million. From the digital homes added between 2008 and 2012, 83 million came from primary DTT [homes taking DTT but not subscribing to cable, DTH or IPTV]. Digital cable contributed a further 151 million additions; pay DTH 75 million, with pay IPTV providing an additional 56 million.
The universe is not static as 100 million TV households were added between 2008 and 2012 to bring the total to 1,439 million. Of these additions, 69 million came from the Asia Pacific region.
From the 404 million digital TV households added between 2008 and 2012, 229 million were in the Asia Pacific region, bringing its total to 342 million. China became the largest digital TV household nation in 2010; rising to 187 million digital TV homes (24 per cent of the world‘s total) by end-2012.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
