US pay TV revenues peaked in 2015, at $101.71 billion, according to Digital TV Research. A $26.58 billion decline (26%) is forecast between 2015 and 2023, bringing the total down to $75.13 billion. Cable TV revenues peaked in 2010 at $54.11 billion, but they will fall to $36.75 billion by 2023. Cable will lose nearly 12 million subscribers between 2010 and 2023, although most of the heaviest losses have already taken place. Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said:
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Cable TV is not the only platform to suffer. Satellite TV and IPTV are also losing subscribers and revenues. Much of this is due to the operators shifting their subscribers to online platforms. However, growth from vMVPDs is not expected to make up completely for the subscriber and revenue shortfalls from traditional pay TV”.
IPTV’s fall is mainly due to AT&T encouraging its U-Verse subscribers to convert to DirecTV, its other pay TV asset. This is the reverse of what has happened in most other countries. IPTV revenues spiked in 2015 at $9.60 billion and they will halve to $4.77 billion in 2023. The number of IPTV subs topped 12 million in 2014, but it will decline to 6.26 million in 2023.
Satellite TV revenues will fall from $39.78 billion in 2017 to $33.61 billion in 2023, down 16%. Satellite TV subscriptions will drop by 4.08 million between the end of 2017 and 2023, having fallen by nearly 3 million in 2017 alone the company believes. Dish is pushing its vMVPD platform Sling TV hard, with DirecTV Now also making an impact.
The number of US traditional pay TV subscribers will fall from a zenith of 100.34 million in 2012 to 90.35 million by the end of 2017 and down to 80.33 million in 2023. Pay TV penetration will fall from 87.6% of TV households in 2013 to 66.7% in 2023.
Although Canada is losing pay TV subscribers, its problems are not as severe as its southern neighbour. Pay TV penetration reached a highpoint in 2013 at 85.1%. The level will fall to 74.8% by 2023. However, the number of pay TV subscribers will be 11.17 million by 2023, about the same as 2017. Pay TV revenues will fall from a peak of $6.82 billion in 2015 to $6.01 billion by 2023.
