DURHAM, N.H.—The largest pay TV providers continue to hemorrhage video subscribers, losing about 1,955,000 net video subscribers in Q1 2022, compared to a pro forma net loss of 1,910,000 in Q1 2021, and 1,960,000 in Q1 2020, according to a new study from the Leichtman Research Group (LRG).
The largest pay TV providers in the U.S.—representing about 93% of the market—now account for about 74.1 million subscribers. The top seven cable companies have about 40.5 million video subscribers, other traditional pay TV services have 26.2 million subscribers, and the top publicly reporting Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay TV services have about 7.4 million subscribers, LRG reported.
“Pay TV net losses of about 1.95 million in 1Q 2022 were similar to the net losses in the first quarters of 2021 and 2020,” 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 4,735,000 subscribers, similar to a loss of about 4,820,000 over the prior year.”
Other key findings for the quarter include:
- Top cable providers had a net loss of about 825,000 video subscribers in Q1 2022 – compared to a loss of about 780,000 subscribers in Q1 2021.
- Other traditional pay TV services had a net loss of about 625,000 subscribers in Q1 2022 – compared to a loss of about 865,000 subscribers in Q1 2021.
- Top publicly reporting vMVPDs had a net loss of about 505,000 subscribers in Q1 2022 – compared to a loss of about 265,000 subscribers in Q1 2021.
The report found that Comcast is the largest pay TV provider with 17.66 million video subs (down 512,000 in Q1, 2022), followed by Charter (down 112,000 subs to 15.72 million), DirecTV (down 300,000 to 14.3 million), Dish TV (down 228,000 to 7.99 million), Hulu + Live TV (down 200,000 to 4.1 million), Verizon FiOS (down 78,000 to 3.57 million), Cox (down 80,000 to 3.31 million), and Altice (down 73,600 to 2.66 million).
For more information about LRG, call (603) 397-5400 or visit www.LeichtmanResearch.com.
