So far, 2023 was not very nice to cable TV companies. They lost a total of 1,820,943 subscribers in just the first 91 days of 2023. That works out to be over 20,000 subscribers every day. This comes from the Leichtman Research Group, which tracks the cable TV and streaming markets.
If that trend continues, over 7 million Americans will cancel cable TV in 2023. We will soon get a good idea of how that trend is going in the 2nd quarter of 2023. In August, multiple cable and satellite companies will report earnings for the 2nd quater. This will give us a good idea of how fast cord cutting will grow.
In total, over 60 million Americans still pay for a traditional cable TV service as of the end of the 1st quarter of 2023.
Many cable TV executives had hoped that live TV streaming services like Hulu, Sling TV, Fubo, and YouTube TV would replace the losses with cable TV. So far, that is now happening as these services lost a combined 394,000 in the first three months of 2023.
Increasingly most cord cutters have decided that live TV is something they just don’t need. If you are not a sports fan, it seems like you are not interested in paying for a live TV service.
Cord cutting has clearly not played out like many media companies expected. This has left many of them rushing to find ways to grow their own on-demand streaming services. Over the last few years, we have seen Max, Peacock, AMC+, Disney+, Discovery+, Paramount+, and more all launch. The question now is which of these services will be successful. For now, it is being reported that most, if not all, of these services are losing money.
2023 is shaping up to be a make-it-or-break-it year for many streaming services. Now we will have to wait and see what happens.