As the TV business realigns itself around streaming services, traditional pay-TV services continue to bleed subscribers, according to the most recent quarterly results from Leichtman Research Group.
In its latest report, LRG reported that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S.—representing about 96% of the market—lost about 1,730,000 net video subscribers in 2Q 2023, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 1,725,000 in 2Q 2022.
The top pay-TV providers account for about 71.9 million subscribers—with the top seven cable companies having 35.9 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services having about 22.7 million subscribers, and the top Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services having about 13.4 million subscribers, according to LRG.
Top cable providers had a net loss of about 925,000 video subscribers in 2Q 2023—compared to a loss of about 950,000 subscribers in 2Q 2022, while other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 690,000 subscribers in 2Q 2023—compared to a loss of about 710,000 subscribers in 2Q 2022, LRG said. Top vMVPDs (including an estimate for YouTube TV) had a net loss of about 115,000 subscribers in 2Q 2023—compared to a loss of about 65,000 subscribers in 2Q 2022.
“Pay-TV net losses of about 1.73 million in 2Q 2023 were similar to the losses in last year’s second quarter,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Over the past year, top pay-TV providers had a net loss of about 5,360,000 subscribers, compared to a net loss of about 4,235,000 over the prior year.”
