DURHAM, N.H.—Major pay TV providers continue to hemorrhage video subscribers, with the Leichtman Research Group (LRG) reporting that the largest pay TV providers in the U.S. – representing about 92% of the market – lost about 1,925,000 net video subscribers in Q2 2022. That is a notable increase from the pro forma net loss of 1,235,000 in Q2 2021.
The losses, however, were about the same as those posted in the first quarter of this year, LRG noted.
The top pay TV providers now account for about 72.2 million subscribers – with the top seven cable companies having about 39.5 million video subscribers, other traditional pay TV services having about 25.5 million subscribers, and the top publicly reporting Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay TV services having about 7.2 million subscribers.
“The second quarter of 2022 marked the second consecutive quarter with over 1.9 million net pay TV losses,” 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 5,425,000 subscribers, compared to a net loss of about 4,550,000 over the prior year.”
Other key findings for the quarter include:
- Top cable providers had a net loss of about 950,000 video subscribers in Q2 2022 – compared to a loss of about 590,000 subscribers in Q2 2021
- Other traditional pay TV services had a net loss of about 710,000 subscribers in Q2 2022 – compared to a loss of about 700,000 subscribers in Q2 2021
- Top publicly reporting vMVPDs had a net loss of about 265,000 subscribers in Q2 2022 – compared to a gain of about 55,000 subscribers in Q2 2021
