Analyst: Cord-cutting to slow in the US
April 4, 2019
The number of US traditional pay-TV subscribers will fall from 105 million in 2010 to 91 million in 2018 and down to 81 million in 2024, according to the North America Pay TV Forecasts report from analyst firm Digital TV Research.
“Despite the overall falls, cord-cutting is slowing,” noted Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research. “The US will lose three million pay-TV subscribers in 2019 – less than the decline of 3.8 million in 2018. Annual losses will diminish after 2019.”
The number of TV households that do not have a pay-TV subscription will quadruple from 11.34 million in 2010 to 48.56 million in 2024. The number of homes without a TV set will climb from 1.27 million in 2010 onto 9.49 million in 2024.
Cable will lose 15 million subscribers between 2010 and 2024 (although most of these losses have already taken place). There were still 19.50 million analogue cable subscribers in 2010.
The number of IPTV subs peaked at 12.56 million in 2014. However, it will fall to 8.32 million in 2024.
Satellite TV subscriptions will fall by 5 million between 2018 and 2024; having declined by 2 million in 2018 alone. Satellite TV revenues will fall from $39.58 billion in 2018 to $31.28 billion in 2024 – or down by 21 per cent.
Pay-TV revenues peaked in 2015, at $105.85 billion. A $30 billion decline (29 per cent) is forecast between 2015 and 2024; taking the total to $75.66 billion.