DURHAM, N.H.—U.S. pay TV providers continued to hemorrhage subscribers in Q3 2023 according to new data from the Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) showing that the largest pay TV providers in the U.S. – representing about 96% of the market – lost about 465,000 net video subscribers in Q3 2023, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 385,000 in Q3 2022.
The results, however, weren’t as bad as the previous quarter, when LRG reported that the largest pay TV providers in the U.S. lost about 1,730,000 net video subscribers in Q2 2023, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 1,725,000 in Q2 2022.
Q3 also produced generally positive results for vMVPDs like Fubo TV and Sling. vMVPDs added 1.3M subs while traditional pay TV providers lost 1.8M subs in the quarter.
“Similar to recent years, pay TV net losses in the third quarter were more modest than in the first two quarters of the year due to the strength of sports on Internet-delivered vMVPD services,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “While traditional pay TV services had a net loss of about 1.8 million subscribers in Q3 2023, vMVPDs had over 1.3 million net additions in the quarter.”
The top pay TV providers account for about 71.5 million subscribers – with the top seven cable companies having about 34.9 million video subscribers, other traditional pay TV services having 21.9 million subscribers, and the top Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay TV services having 14.7 million subscribers.
Other key findings from LRG include:
- Top cable providers had a net loss of about 1,015,000 video subscribers in 3Q 2023 – compared to a loss of about 985,000 subscribers in Q3 2022
- Other traditional pay TV services had a net loss of about 780,000 subscribers in 3Q 2023 – compared to a loss of about 700,000 subscribers in Q3 2022
- Top vMVPDs added about 1,325,000 subscribers in Q3 2023 – compared to a gain of about 1,300,000 subscribers in Q3 2022
