German pay TV revenues pass €2 billion

Pay TV revenues in Germany passed €2 billion for the first time in 2013, according to new stats by Germany’s commercial broadcasters association the Verband Privater Rundfunk und Telemedien (VPRT).

The VPRT said that in Germany, pay TV and paid VOD revenues came in last year at €2.05 billion – an increase of 11.4% year-on-year – and are forecast to rise to €2.3 billion in 2014.

Across the German-speaking countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the figure was an even higher €2.2 billion in 2013 and is tipped to rise to €2.5 billion this year.

The revenue increase was attributed to a “significant subscriber growth of pay-TV channels and platforms.”

The VPRT said that the number of pay-TV subscriptions in Germany has risen by almost 50% in the past five years to 6.4 million at the end of 2013.

It added that in the German-speaking countries, the number stands at around 7.1 million pay-TV subscribers.