The pay TV industry is facing a steady decline in subscribers, with a record loss of 2.37 million during the first three months of 2024. This represents a 6.9% drop and is being driven by people cutting the cord and younger generations opting not to sign up for pay TV at all. Despite some hope that digital pay TV services like YouTube TV would offset this decline, even these platforms are seeing a decrease in subscribers. Hulu Live TV, Fubo, Sling, and YouTube TV all experienced losses in the first quarter.
One possible explanation for this decline is that many people were only using these platforms to watch specific content and canceled their subscriptions once it was no longer available. While some may return when new content becomes available, the issue of high subscriber churn remains prevalent in the industry. On the positive side, the ease of adding or dropping digital TV services has been a selling point for consumers. However, as a result of this decline, the TV industry is now looking to increase long-term contracts to combat subscriber loss – a move that mirrors the old cable TV model and signals a return to more traditional practices in the industry.