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State of the Screens

What Did The Pandemic Mean For Cord-Cutting?

By March 11, 2021No Comments

Remote in Hand

YoY change in pay-TV subscribers:
1) Traditional pay-TV – ↓ 5.9M
2) Streaming pay-TV – ↑ 2.1M
3) Total pay-TV – ↓ 3.8M

Total pay-TV subscriptions (YoY growth):
1) 2018 – 91.8M
2) 2019 – 88.6M (↓ 4%)
3) 2020 – 84.8M (↓ 4%)

Traditional pay-TV subscriptions (YoY growth):
1) 2018 – 85.1M
2) 2019 – 79.5M (↓ 7%)
3) 2020 – 73.6M (↓ 7%)

Streaming pay-TV subscriptions (YoY growth):
1) 2018 – 6.7M
2) 2019 – 9.0M (↑ 35%)
3) 2020 – 11.2M (↑ 24%)

Big question: What is driving the acceleration in cord-cutting?

Three waves of disruption for the pay-TV ecosystem, according to Matthew Ball:
1) Wave #1 (2007 – 2015) – Pay-TV is getting better but too expensive. Better value substitutes emerge

2) Wave #2 (2015 – 2019) – Pay-TV is still getting better, plus cheaper. Better value substitutes getting better

3) Wave #3 (2019 – Present) – Pay-TV is getting worse and more expensive. Suppliers focused on better value substitutes

 

Interesting: ANTENNA shows streaming-pay-TV sign-ups by month for each service.

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.

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