US, Canuck pay TV subs to plummet

Source: Digital TV Research

The number of pay TV subscribers in Canada and the US will have fallen by 43 million by 2026 compared with its peak year of 2010, according to research.

The stark findings from UK-based analysis firm Digital TV Research forecast there will be 74 million pay TV subscribers in North America in 2026, a significant drop from 116 million in 2010.

This means pay TV revenues will fall by US$49bn from a peak of US$111bn in 2015 to US$62bn in 2026.

The trend away from pay TV has been accelerating over the past decade, according to the study, which found that between 2010 and 2020 the number of pay TV subscribers fell by 27 million, with six million fewer customers in both 2019 and 2020.

Pay TV penetration will also drop from 90.5% in 2010 to 53.6% by 2026, Digital TV Research found.

But Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said the US cord-cutting trend will start to slow.

“The worst of the cord-cutting is over. Declines will be lower from 2021, falling by 16 million in total between 2020 and 2026. ‘Only’ five million digital cable TV subscribers will be lost. Satellite TV will fall by 7.5 million and IPTV by 3.4 million subscribers.”