The top pay-TV providers in the United States have lost 20 million subscribers in the last five years, according the Leichtman Research Group.
The largest providers representing about 96% of the market between them lost about 5,035,000 net video subscribers in 2023, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 4,590,000 in 2022.
Leichtman’s figures show the top pay-TV providers now account for about 71.3 million subscribers – with the top seven cable companies having about 34.1 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services having 21 million subscribers, and the top Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services (including estimates for YouTube TV) having 16.2 million subscribers.
“The top pay-TV providers had a net loss of about 5 million subscribers in 2023, compared to a pro forma loss of about 4.6 million subscribers in 2022,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “At the end of 2023, top pay-TV providers had about 71.3 million subscribers, down from 91.5 million at the end of 2018.”
Comcast, lost 2,036,000 of its subscriber base to end 2023 with14,106,000, while similarly-sized Charter shed 1,025,000 to 14,122,000.
In contrast the YouTube TV service picked up 1,900,000 to end the year on an estimated 7,900,000.
