Cord cutting in Q3 proves even worse than thought
The latest cord-cutting statistics just keep getting worse.
TV industry analysts last week already had tallied the losses for the major pay-TV players as about 1.1 million defections for the three-month period ending Sept. 30 – one of the worst quarters in recent history.
Now, market tracker S&P Global Market Intelligence says the exodus was even larger – 1.2 million – during the period. Overall, that left cable, satellite and telco TV providers with about 91 million subscribers, 88.2 million of those being residential customers, the research firm says.
Satellite TV providers had their worst quarter on record with a loss of 726,000 subscribers, the firm says.
Cable operators have been hit with a tough trend, too. So far this year, they have lost nearly 1.1 million subscribers, their worst losses at the threequarter mark since 2014.
So far this year, traditional pay-TV providers have lost 2.8 million subscribers.
Subscriptions for broadband-delivered TV services such as DirecTV Now, Hulu, Sling TV, YouTube TV and PlayStation Vue have not quite offset those losses, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Those services collectively have gained 2.1 million subscriptions this year.
“People have embraced them,” S&P senior research analyst Tony Lenoir said. “There’s a lot of competition from streaming services out there.
“People are just cutting the cord. I don’t think we’ve seen the end of it.”
The flip side? Many pay-TV providers also are major distributors of broadband connections, and consumers need those to get TV over the internet.
Cable providers including Comcast, Charter and Cox added about 580,000 broadband subscribers in the July-September period, compared with 390,000 in the same period a year ago, according to Leichtman Research Group.
It was the first time in four years that broadband providers had seen a year-to-year increase during the third quarter, the firm says.
Overall, 97.7 million subscribe to broadband on cable and telco providers, according to Leichtman Research Group. That’s up more than 3 percent from 94.5 million a year ago.