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State of the Screens

Cord-Cutting Accelerated in 2019, Raising Pressure on Cable Providers 

By February 26, 2020No Comments

YoY change in pay-TV subscribers according to MoffettNathanson:
1)
 Traditional pay-TV – ↓ 5.5M
2) 
Streaming pay-TV – ↑ 2.4M
3) 
Total pay-TV – ↓ 3.1M

YoY change in traditional pay-TV subscribers:
1) AT&T – ↓ 3.4M
2) 
Comcast – ↓ 733K
3) 
Dish – ↓ 500K
4) Charter – ↓ 484K

Total pay-TV subscribers (YoY growth):
1) 2010 – 100.3M 
2) 2011 – 100.4M (↑ 0.1%)
3) 2012 – 100.4M (↑ 0%)
4) 2013 – 100.2M (↓ 0.2%)
5) 2014 – 100.1M (↓ 0.1%)
6) 2015 – 98.8M (↓ 1%)
7) 2016 – 98.3M (↓ 1%)
8) 2017 – 97.4M (↓ 1%)
9) 2018 – 96.7M (↓ 1%)
10) 2019 – 93.0M (↓ 4%)

Total pay-TV subscribers by source (% of total):
1) Traditional pay-TV – 83M (89%)
2) Streaming pay-TV – 10M (11%)
3) Total pay-TV – 93M

Streaming pay-TV subscribers (YoY growth):
1) 2015 – 700K
2) 2016 – 2.1M (↑ 200%)
3) 2017 – 4.6M (↑ 119%)
4) 2018 – 7.6M (↑ 65%)
5) 2019 – 10.0M (↑ 31%)

Cable broadband subscribers (YoY growth):
1) 
2010 – 45.3M 
2) 2011 – 48.0M (↑ 6%)
3) 2012 – 50.8M (↑ 6%)
4) 2013 – 53.3M (↑ 5%)
5) 2014 – 56.4M (↑ 6%)
6) 2015 – 60.2M (↑ 7%)
7) 2016 – 64.1M (↑ 6%)
8) 2017 – 67.2M (↑ 5%)
9) 2018 – 70.5M (↑ 5%)
10) 2019 – 74.1M (↑ 5%)

More #1: The streaming shake-up

More #2: The Great Rebundling Is About To Happen

More #3: Virtual MVPDs Were Supposed to Help Save the TV Industry—What Went Wrong?

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.