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State of the Screens

What’s Behind the Cord Cutting Spike?

By May 26, 2022No Comments

YoY change in pay-TV subscribers:
1)
 Traditional pay-TV – ↓ 4.7M
2) 
Streaming pay-TV – ↑ 939K
3) Total pay-TV – ↓ 3.7M

Total pay-TV subscriptions (YoY growth):
1) 
2019-Q1 – 91.6M
2) 
2020-Q1 – 87.1M (↓ 5%)
3) 2021-Q1 – 83.0M (↓ 5%)
4) 2022-Q1 – 78.7M (↓ 5%)

Traditional pay-TV subscriptions (YoY growth):
1) 
2019-Q1 – 83.9M
2) 
2020-Q1 – 77.5M (↓ 8%)
3) 2021-Q1 – 71.4M (↓ 8%)
4) 2022-Q1 – 66.7M (↓ 7%)

Streaming pay-TV subscriptions (YoY growth):
1) 
2019-Q1 – 7.8M
2) 
2020-Q1 – 9.6M (↑ 23%)
3) 2021-Q1 – 11.1M (↑ 16%)
4) 2022-Q1 – 12.0M (↑ 8%)

Total broadband subscriptions (YoY growth):
1) 
2020-Q1 – 102.4M
2) 2021-Q1 – 107.0M (↑ 4%)
3) 2022-Q1 – 108.8M (↑ 2%)


Broadband only share of TV homes according to Nielsen:
1) 2016 – 4%
2) 2018 – 9%
3) 2021 – 27%

C1978-2021Q4B

Why this matters: Broadband service now reaches 30M more households than pay-TV.  Broadband is a better business for cable/telco companies which will only grow in importance as the pay-TV universe approaches 50M households.

U.S. pay-TV revenue from subscriptions (% change) according to Kagan:
1) 2016 – $117B
2) 2021 – $91B ( 22%)
3) 2025 – $65B ( 29%)

2021-11-24_15-09-57

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.