Advanced Television

Analyst: US pay-TV revenues to fall by $27bn

March 12, 2018

US pay-TV revenues peaked in 2015, at $101.71 billion (€82.51bn), according to the eighth edition of the North America Pay TV Forecasts report from Digital TV Research. A $26.58 billion decline (26 per cent) is forecast between 2015 and 2023 to take the total down to $75.13 billion.

Cable TV revenues peaked in 2010 at $54.11 billion, but they will fall to $36.75 billion by 2023. Cable will lose nearly 12 million subscribers between 2010 and 2023 (although most of the heaviest losses have already taken place).

“Cable TV is not the only platform to suffer,” noted Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research. “Satellite TV and IPTV are also losing subscribers and revenues. Much of this is due to the operators shifting their subscribers to online platforms. However, growth from vMVPDs is not expected to make up completely for the subscriber and revenue shortfalls from traditional pay-TV.”

IPTV’s fall is mainly as a result of AT&T encouraging its U-Verse subscribers to convert to DirecTV, its other pay-TV asset. This is the reverse of what has happened in most other countries. IPTV revenues spiked in 2015 at $9.60 billion, and they will halve to $4.77 billion in 2023. The number of IPTV subs topped 12 million in 2014, but it will decline to 6.26 million in 2023.

Satellite TV revenues will fall from $39.78 billion in 2017 to $33.61 billion in 2023 – or down by 16 per cent. Satellite TV subscriptions will drop by 4.08 million between end-2017 and 2023; having fallen by nearly 3 million in 2017 alone. DISH is pushing its vMVPD platform Sling TV hard, with DirecTV Now also making an impact.

The number of US traditional pay-TV subscribers will fall from a zenith of 100.34 million in 2012 to 90.35 million by end-2017 and down to 80.33 million in 2023. Pay-TV penetration will fall from 87.6 per cent of TV households in apex year 2013 to 66.7 per cent in 2023.

Although Canada is losing pay-TV subscribers, its problems are not as severe as its Southern neighbour. Pay-TV penetration reached a high point in 2013 at 85.1 per cent. The level will fall to 74.8 per cent by 2023. However, the number of pay-TV subscribers will be 11.17 million by 2023 – about the same as 2017. Pay-TV revenues will fall from a peak of $6.82 billion in 2015 to $6.01 billion by 2023.

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