The number of households subscribing to pay-TV services has increased by 20 million over the last 12 months – a figure equivalent to the total installed base of DirecTV in the United States.
informitv’s Multiscreen Index, which charts the 100 leading pay-TV services rose by 5.24 million in the second quarter of 2014, an increase of 1.6%. The increase was higher than in the first quarter, when the Multiscreen Index added 4.71 million subscribers, up by 1.4%.
The 100 services in the Multiscreen Index added 20.29 million subscribers in the 12 months to the middle of 2014, a 6.0% rise. The 10 services with the most subscribers gained 1.14 million between them in the three months to the end of June, compared to 1.21 million the previous quarter.
Satellite services added 2.13 million subscribers worldwide, just ahead of telco television operators which added 2.07 million, while losses in the United States reduced the gains for cable to 0.75 million.
The 10 services with the greatest gains added over 3 million subscribers between them in the second quarter, while the 10 with the largest losses shed just over 800,000.
“The Multiscreen Index shows continued worldwide growth in subscription television services, despite losses among operators in the United States” says its editor, Dr William Cooper of informitv. “America remains the most valuable market, and revenues continue to rise, but the opportunities for subscriber growth lie elsewhere.”
Comcast and Time Warner Cable lost 296,000 video customers and Dish Network and DirecTV lost 78,000, while AT&T and Verizon added 289,000.
With further losses from Charter, Cablevision, Mediacom and Suddenlink, the top 10 services in the United States lost 165,500 video customers. However, losses in the seasonally weak second quarter were down on previous years and represent just 0.2% of their combined subscriber base.
Year on year, subscriber gains by telco and satellite services exceeded the losses from the main cable companies.
