DURHAM, N.H.—Major pay TV providers have passed another unpleasant milestone in 2023 with a new Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) report finding that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. lost about 5,035,000 net video subscribers in 2023, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 4,590,000 in 2022.
“The top pay-TV providers had a net loss of about 5 million subscribers in 2023, compared to a pro forma loss of about 4.6 million subscribers in 2022,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “At the end of 2023, top pay-TV providers had about 71.3 million subscribers, down from 91.5 million at the end of 2018.”
The major pay TV providers covered by the report represent about 96% of the market. The record breaking 2023 sub losses mean that the top seven cable companies had about 34.1 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services had about 21 million subscribers, and the top Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services (including estimates for YouTube TV) served about 16.2 million subscribers.
Comcast suffered the largest pay TV sub losses, ending 2023 down 2,036,000 video subs to 14,106,000, followed DirecTV (11,300,000, down 1,800,000), Charter (14,122,000 subs, down 1,025,000), and Dish TV (6,471,000, down 945,000).
Key findings for the year include:
- Top cable providers had a net loss of about 3,825,000 video subscribers in 2023 – compared to a loss of about 3,540,000 subscribers in 2022.
- Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 3,105,000 subscribers in 2023 – compared to a loss of about 2,720,000 subscribers in 2022.
- Top vMVPDs added about 1,895,000 subscribers in 2023 – compared to a gain of about 1,670,000 subscribers in 2022.
- Traditional pay-TV services (not including vMVPD) had a net loss of about 6,930,000 subscribers in 2023 – compared to a net loss of about 6,260,000 in 2022.
