NEW YORK—Reported pay-TV numbers among some of the biggest providers—Comcast, AT&T, Charter Communications and Verizon; Dish Network and Atlice USA are still unreported—in the fourth quarter of 2019 were not strong. However, growth among virtual MVPDs, specifically Hulu Live and YouTube TV, helped reduce some of those loses, per a new report from MoffetNathanson.
In the report “U.S. Media: Get Those Life Boats Ready,” it is shown that the four aforementioned pay-TV providers lost nearly 1.5 million subscribers combined in Q4 2019; AT&T lost 907,000 subscribers by itself.
Yet, while the report’s author, Michael Nathanson, said he did not have enough data for precise numbers for Hulu Live and YouTube TV in Q4 2019, the research says they experienced “exceptionally strong” growth. With their addition, pay-TV’s recession in that quarter would improve from the record -6.8% to -3.5%.
TVT’s sister publication B&C has the full story.
