Report: Cord Cutters Almost Doubled During 2018

Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) found that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. – representing about 95% of the market – lost about 2,875,000 net video subscribers in 2018, compared to a loss of about 1,510,000 subscribers in 2017.

The top pay-TV providers account for 89.1 million subscribers – with the top six cable companies having 47 million video subscribers, satellite TV services 29.1 million subscribers, the top telephone companies 9 million subscribers, and the top Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services 4 million subscribers.

Key findings include:

• Satellite TV services lost about 2,360,000 subscribers in 2018 – compared to a loss of about 1,550,000 subscribers in 2017
• DIRECTV lost 1,236,000 subscribers in 2018 – compared to a loss of 554,000 subscribers in 2017
• The top six cable companies lost about 910,000 video subscribers in 2018 – compared to a loss of about 680,000 subscribers in 2017
• The top telephone companies lost about 245,000 video subscribers in 2018 – compared to a loss of about 885,000 in 2017. AT&T U-verse added 47,000 subscribers in 2018 – compared to a loss of 624,000 subscribers in 2017

“The pay-TV market saw net losses increase in 2018.  Overall, the top pay-TV providers lost 3.1% of subscribers in 2018 compared to a loss of 1.6% in 2017,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc.

“Since the industry’s peak in 1Q 2012, pay-TV subscribers for the top providers have declined by about 6,000,000.  This reflects a decline of about 10,000,000 subscribers for traditional services, offset by the addition of about 4,000,000 subscribers for the publicly reporting vMVPD services.”