Analyst: Pay-TV to Lose $50 Billion in Revenue by 2025 — Despite Accelerated Broadband Growth
February 28, 2020
With the pay-TV industry seeing greater numbers of subscribers exiting toward alternatives such as over-the-top video, new data from Digital TV Research suggests domestic operators will see revenue fall by $50 billion to $62 billion in 2025.
The report says pay-TV revenue in North America, which peaked in 2015 at $112 billion, will see declines across all distribution channels, including cable (down $22 billion, including $3 billion from analog and $19 billion from digital). Satellite distribution will fall by $21 billion and online TV (Sling TV, AT&T TV Now, Hulu with Live TV, etc.) will drop by $7 billion.
“The loss of 42 million pay-TV subscribers between 2010 and 2025 is mostly responsible for this decline,” Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said in a statement. “Operators now put more emphasis on broadband connections than on traditional pay TV channels.”
Indeed, Comcast added 442,000 broadband subscribers in the most-recent quarter, AT&T added 191,000 subs, Charter Communications (Spectrum) added 339,000 subs, and Verizon added 35,000 Fios Internet customers.
“Subscribers are turning against high traditional pay-TV fees by seeking cheaper alternatives,” Murray said. “OTT allows viewers to see what they want when they want — they are not tied to the channels’ schedules. The value of the linear schedule for recorded programming is rapidly diminishing.”
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