With 4.6 million subscribers Portugal’s pay-TV market closed the second quarter of 2024, marking an increase of 86,000 subscribers, or 1.9%, compared to Q2 2023. However, as reported by the National Communications Authority (Anacom) this growth represents the slowest rate recorded since the end of 2013.
Furthermore, making up around 89% of the total subscriber base, the residential sector dominated Portugal’s pay-TV market, while non-residential subscribers accounted for the remaining 11%.
With numbers rising by 6.3% to reach 3 million, an increase of 179,000 compared to Q2 2023 Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) technology has been the main engine behind subscriber growth. Despite this, the growth rate marks the slowest pace for FTTH since its rollout began in 2007.
Notably, Cable TV ranked as the second most popular distribution technology, accounting for 26.3% of subscribers, followed by satellite TV/DTH at 6.8% and ADSL at 1.7%. Additionally, with most customers choosing bundled service packages, Pay-TV penetration in residential households hit 96%. Standalone TV services were far less common, with only 1.9% of subscribers opting for them.
Meo (Altice Portugal) commanded a 41.8% share and retained its position as the leading pay-TV provider in the market, with NOS Group close behind at 36.2%. Vodafone Portugal held 19.3% of the market, while Nowo accounted for 2.7%. Both Meo (+0.4%) and Vodafone (+0.3%) saw their market shares grow, while NOS Group (-0.5%) and Nowo (-0.2%) experienced slight declines during the same period.