Research: 64% of US TV homes have live pay-TV service
October 6, 2023
Consumer research from Leichtman Research Group (LRG) finds that 64 per cent of US TV households nationwide have some form of pay-TV service. The percentage of TV households that have a live pay-TV service (via cable, satellite, Telco, or Internet-delivered vMVPD) is down from 78 per cent in 2018, 86 per cent in 2013, and 87 per cent in 2008.
Reflecting this decline, in TV households 70 per cent of adults ages 45+ and 56 per cent of ages 18-44 have a pay-TV service. Comparatively, in 2013, 88 per cent of adults ages 45+ and 83 per cent of ages 18-44 had a pay-TV service.
These findings are based on a survey of 1,769 households from throughout the US, and are part of a new LRG study, Pay-TV in the US 2023. This is LRG’s twenty-first annual study on this topic.
Other related findings include:
- 48 per cent of those that moved in the past year do not currently have a pay-TV service – a higher level than in any previous year
- 42 per cent of renters do not have a pay-TV service – compared to 33 per cent of homeowners
- 33 per cent of non-subscribers last had a pay-TV service within the past three years, 37 per cent last had a pay-TV service over three years ago, and 30 per cent never had a pay-TV service
- Among those that never had a pay-TV service, 63 per cent are ages 18-34, compared to 24 per cent of former pay-TV subscribers
- The mean age of traditional pay-TV subscribers is 49.3 – compared to 42.5 among non-subscribers, and 40.8 with vMVPD-only
- Among all pay-TV subscribers, the mean reported spending per month is $112.70 – 5 per cent higher than the mean monthly spending in 2018
“The per cent of US TV households with a live pay-TV service waned over the past decade, with a more precipitous decline over the past five years,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group. “The penetration of pay-TV remains lowest among younger adults and the categories that they tend to populate, including movers and renters. Today, 56 per cent of ages 18-44 have a pay-TV service, compared to 83 per cent a decade ago.”