The number of digital TV homes in the LATAM region will double by 2020, according to Digital TV Research. 152 million households will have access to digital TV at this time, representing 93.6% penetration (up from just over 50% at the end of last year).
Brazil will add the most digital TV homes in the forecast period – 19 million. Mexico will contribute an extra 11 million, and Argentina almost 5 million more. By 2020, only Puerto Rico (which fully converted to digital in 2014), Panama and Uruguay will have finished the digital switchover.
Free-to-air DTT will overtake pay-satellite TV as the leading digital platform in 2016. Primary DTT homes will climb from 4.2 million at the end of 2010 to 68 million in 2020 (41.9% penetration). Almost 10 million pay-satellite homes will be added between 2014 and 2020, taking penetration to around 25%.
Digital cable will see an additional 18.2 million subscribers added to 2020, reaching around 20% penetration. Analogue cable, however, will plummet from 18 million to 4.3 million. IPTV will climb from 1.3 million subscribers to 6.8 million.
Top revenues in 2020 will be generated by Brazil ($8.6 billion), followed by Mexico ($5.6 billion) and Argentina ($2.3 billion). Together, these three countries will have a 71% revenue share.
