Major US Pay-TV Providers Lost About 1,230,000 Subscribers in 2Q 2021
Durham, NH, August 18, 2021—Leichtman Research Group (LRG) found that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S.– representing about 95% of the market – lost about 1,230,000 net video subscribers in 2Q 2021, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 1,505,000 in 2Q 2020.
The top pay-TV providers now account for about 77.6 million subscribers – with the top seven cable companies having 42.6 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services having about 28.2 million subscribers, and the top publicly reporting Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services having about 6.8 million subscribers.
Key findings for the quarter include:
- Top cable providers had a net loss of about 590,000 video subscribers in 2Q 2021 – compared to a loss of about 505,000 subscribers in 2Q 2020
-
Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 700,000 subscribers in 2Q 2021 – compared to a loss of about 1,045,000 subscribers in 2Q 2020
- AT&T Premium TV had 473,000 net losses in 2Q 2021 – compared to 887,000 net losses in 2Q 2020
- Top publicly reporting vMVPDs added about 55,000 subscribers in 2Q 2021 – compared to a gain of about 45,000 subscribers in 2Q 2020
“Pay-TV net losses of 1,230,000 in 2Q 2021 were about 275,000 fewer than in 2Q 2020 on a pro forma basis,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. “Over the past year, top pay-TV providers had a net loss of about 4,520,000 subscribers, compared to a loss of about 5,460,000 over the prior year.”
| Pay-TV Providers | Subscribers at end of 2Q 2021 | Net Adds in 2Q 2021 |
| Cable Companies | ||
| Comcast | 18,956,000 | (399,000) |
| Charter | 16,012,000 | (50,000) |
| Cox* | 3,530,000 | (60,000) |
| Altice** | 2,870,500 | (48,300) |
| Mediacom | 611,000 | (15,000) |
| Atlantic Broadband | 309,242 | (4,349) |
| Cable One** | 287,000 | (11,000) |
| Total Top Cable | 42,575,742 | (587,649) |
| Other Traditional Services | ||
| AT&T Premium TV^ | 15,412,000 | (473,000) |
| DISH TV (DBS) | 8,554,000 | (132,000) |
| Verizon FiOS (Telco) | 3,782,000 | (63,000) |
| Frontier (Telco)* | 423,000 | (30,000) |
| Total Top Other Traditional | 28,171,000 | (698,000) |
| Internet-Delivered (vMVPD) | ||
| Hulu + Live TV | 3,700,000 | (100,000) |
| Sling TV | 2,439,000 | 65,000 |
| fuboTV | 681,721 | 91,291 |
| Total Top vMVPD^^ | 6,820,721 | 56,291 |
| Total Top Providers | 77,567,463 | (1,229,358) |
Sources: The Companies and Leichtman Research Group, Inc.
* LRG estimate
** Includes recent acquisitions and LRG pro forma estimates of net adds
^ AT&T Premium TV includes DIRECTV, U-verse, and AT&T TV
^^ vMVPD does not include YouTube TV or Philo, as neither regularly report results.
Company subscriber counts may not solely represent residential households
Top pay-TV providers represent approximately 95% of all subscribers
Net additions reflect pro forma results from system sales and acquisitions, reporting adjustments, and changes to the list of top providers – therefore, comparing totals in this release to prior releases will not produce accurate findings
