The largest pay TV providers in the United States – representing about 95% of the market – lost about 1.230.000 net video subscribers in the second quarter of 2021, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 1.505.000 during Q2 of 2020, according to Leichtman Research Group (LRG).
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.
The report also discovered that top cable providers had a net loss of about 590.000 video subscribers in the second quarter of 2021 – compared to a loss of about 505.000 subscribers in the same period of 2020. Other traditional pay-TV services had a net loss of about 700.000 subscribers in Q2 of 2021 – compared to a loss of about 1.045.000 subscribers in Q2 of 2020.
“Pay TV net losses of 1.230.000 in the second quarter of 2021 were about 275.000 fewer than in the second quarter of 2020 on a pro forma basis. 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,” commented Bruce Leichtman, President and Principal Analyst for Leichtman Research Group.