Events & Resources

Learning Center
Read through guides, explore resource hubs, and sample our coverage.
Learn More
Events
Register for an upcoming webinar and track which industry events our analysts attend.
Learn More
Podcasts
Listen to our podcast, Behind the Numbers for the latest news and insights.
Learn More

About

Our Story
Learn more about our mission and how EMARKETER came to be.
Learn More
Our Clients
Key decision-makers share why they find EMARKETER so critical.
Learn More
Our People
Take a look into our corporate culture and view our open roles.
Join the Team
Our Methodology
Rigorous proprietary data vetting strips biases and produces superior insights.
Learn More
Newsroom
See our latest press releases, news articles or download our press kit.
Learn More
Contact Us
Speak to a member of our team to learn more about EMARKETER.
Contact Us

US pay TV penetration will drop below 50% in 2023

The forecast: Pay TV is in free fall, as more and more families cut the cable cord. By the end of 2023, less than half of US households will have a traditional pay TV subscription. The total number of pay TV households will drop to 65.1 million, a 4.8% decrease from 2022.

Beyond the chart:

  • Between 2016 and 2021, pay TV lost more than 50 million adult viewers (or 25.5 million households), posting the steepest drop in 2020, at 7.7%.
  • As pay TV declines, virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) will be on the rise. Many cord-cutting households will turn to such services as Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV. By the end of 2022, 15.0 million households will subscribe to a vMVPD, up 7.6% from 2021 and representing 11.4% of all US households.
  • The growth of vMVPDs will not be enough to offset the decline of pay TV. In 2022, 63.2% of all households will have either pay TV or a vMVPD, but this figure will decline to 54.8% in 2026.

Looking ahead: The streaming landscape is changing, as streamers strike deals for live sports programming and introduce ad-supported tiers of membership. These factors create an increasingly enticing environment for disgruntled pay TV households to finally cut the cord.

You've read 0 of 2 free articles this month.

Create an account for uninterrupted access to select articles.
Create a Free Account