Demand and willingness to pay for pay-TV and paid video content in Germany continues to grow, despite a difficult economic climate and complex regulation. In 2024, revenues from pay-TV and paid video-on-demand rose by around 6% to €5.5 billion. For the current year 2025, VAUNET – German Media Association – expects revenues to climb by a further 5% to around €5.8 billion.These findings are drawn from VAUNET’s study Pay TV & Paid VoD in Germany 2024/2025. The report covers market developments in 2024 and includes VAUNET’s projections for 2025. It takes into account revenues from both national and international providers and platforms active in Germany.According to the study, the number of pay-TV subscriptions in Germany rose to 15.2 million in 2024, up from 14.8 million the previous year. VAUNET expects this figure to reach 15.6 million in 2025. AGF-licensed pay-TV channels achieved an average monthly reach of 18.8 million viewers in 2024.Subscriber numbers for paid online streaming services (SVoD) grew to 22.1 million in 2024 and are forecast to rise to 23.2 million in 2025.Frank Giersberg, Managing Director of VAUNET, commented: “Even in a difficult economic environment, demand for pay-TV and paid video content is increasing. The market is moving in a positive direction and offers consumers an impressive range of services. However, competition is becoming ever fiercer, and the unequal competition from Big Tech platforms remains one of the biggest challenges. In this situation, any additional regulatory burdens would send the wrong signal.”Tim Werner, CEO of Mainstream Media and Chair of the VAUNET Pay TV Working Group, said: “The positive market trend is an encouraging signal and confirms our work. With creativity, dedication and enthusiasm, our members contribute to the quality and diversity of television. Romance TV continues to rank second overall in terms of audience figures, while Heimatkanal – Germany’s nostalgia channel – remains firmly in the pay-TV top ten and celebrated its most successful year yet in 2024.”Henning Nieslony, Chief Streaming Officer of RTL Deutschland, stated: “The German SVoD and pay TV market is one of the largest in the world. This means high dynamics, intense competition and diversity. Customers naturally switch between linear, VoD, free and pay services. For us as providers, this means a three-way battle in content, technology and customer engagement. With RTL+, we delivered in all three disciplines last year, expanded our market position and stood up to the global tech players. We will continue to pursue this path consistently.”Nicole Agudo Berbel, Managing Director and Chief Distribution Officer Seven.One Media / Seven.One Entertainment Group, said: “Streaming services in particular are driving growth in the audiovisual market and giving viewers even greater choice. Our fast-growing streaming platform Joyn plays a major role here. At ProSiebenSat.1, we are committed to in-depht partnerships – with our platform partners hosting both Joyn and our linear channels, as well as in sales and content. This enables us to offer our more than 10 million monthly video users a vast range of high-quality content available virtually everywhere.”Elke Walthelm, Chief Operating Officer & Managing Director of Sky Deutschland, said: “We continue to see steady growth in the pay-TV and streaming markets, reflected not only in more subscriptions per user but above all in a greater willingness to pay. We are harnessing this potential consistently and successfully. With our dual brand strategy of Sky Stream and WOW, exclusive premium content and smart strategic partnerships, we are creating a diverse experience for our customers and actively shaping the future of TV and streaming.”Kathrin Palesch, Managing Director of Hearst Networks Germany, added: “VoD streaming has become a second mainstay of pay-TV, boosting growth particularly for Crime+Investigation. At the same time, linear viewing of The History Channel has reached record levels in 2025, securing our position as the number one documentary channel. Forming as many alliances as possible with both established and new distribution partners – together with top-quality content – is clearly the key to ensuring pay-TV remains competitive.”
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