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Only 65.1 million households in the US still had traditional pay TV* by the end of last year, down 9.0% from 2021. That brought the percentage of US households subscribing to pay TV down to 49.7%, compared to 55.4% in 2021. This is a steeper decline than predicted in our September 2022 forecast, when we estimated this share would not drop below 50% until 2023.  

“Streaming services have evolved to offer many advantages over cable and satellite packages,” said Paul Verna, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence. “They’re more affordable despite having raised prices, they provide more flexibility for stopping and starting service, and they increasingly carry programming that used to exist only on legacy systems, like live sports. Also, as they mature, streaming services are building libraries of must-see, digital-only content. This gives viewers more and more incentives to cut the cord and sign on with digital video providers.”

Our current forecast now predicts pay TV households will drop another 7.1% this year to 60.5 million, or 45.6% of US households. By the end of 2027, that figure will drop to 34.9%.  Full Article