Pay TV revenues in North America are expected to fall to USD 75.13 billion in 2023 from their peak of 101.71 billion in 2015, decreasing 26 percent in the period, according to the latest report from Digital TV Research.
Cable TV revenues peaked in 2010 at USD 54.11 billion and are expected to decline to USD 36.75 billion by 2023. Cable will lose nearly 12 million subscribers between 2010 and 2023; the heaviest losses have already taken place.
Satellite TV and IPTV are also losing subscribers and revenues as operators shift subscribers to online platforms. However, growth from Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs) will not be able to fully offset subscriber and revenue shortfalls from traditional pay TV.
IPTV revenues hit their highs in 2015 at USD 9.60 billion, and are forecast to halve to 4.77 billion in 2023. The number of IPTV subscribers topped 12.00 million in 2014, but it will decline to 6.26 million in 2023. Falls at IPTV are being driven by 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.
Satellite TV revenues will go 16 percent lower to USD 33.61 billion in 2023 from 39.78 billion in 2017. Satellite TV subscriptions will drop by 4.08 million between end-2017 and 2023; they fell by nearly 3 million in 2017 alone. 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 to 80.33 million in 2023, from 90.35 million in 2017 and their highs of 100.34 million in 2012. Pay TV penetration will fall to 66.7 percent of all TV households in 2023 from 87.6 percent in 2023.
