Ever since Sling TV and PlayStation Vue went head to head, the question has been what is the most popular streaming service? Now that question has grown in importance as the number of live TV streaming services has increased.
Last week, Cord Cutters News asked over 2,000 of our readers what live TV streaming services they use. That list gave us an idea of what the most popular live TV streaming services are.
Here are the top live TV streaming services according to our readers:
- DIRECTV NOW: 27.8%
- Sling TV: 14.7%
- YouTube TV: 14%
- PlayStation Vue: 13.9%
- Philo: 8.2%
- Hulu: 6.4%
*All other live TV streaming services did not add up to 1%.
DIRECTV NOW for the second quarter in a row was the most popular live TV streaming service, but they did slip slightly. In the summer of 2018, 30% of our readers subscribed to DIRECTV NOW. Now just 27.8% do. YouTube TV also saw a slight drop, falling behind Sling TV.
All other live TV streaming services saw growth according to our survey. Hulu was up to 6.4% from 5.3%, Philo was up to 8.2% from 5.8%, and PlayStation Vue was modestly up to 13.9% from 13.4%.
According to the most recent public numbers, Sling TV still has the most subscribers: over 2 million. DIRECTV NOW is the second most popular streaming service with 1.4 million subscribers.
What should we take away from these numbers? They give us a snapshot at where live TV streaming services are heading. There is no doubt that DIRECTV NOW is seeing strong growth, particularly with their $10 a month promo and free Apple TV if you sign up for three months deal. Recently these deals have come to an end and, as expected, we have seen a slight drop in subscribers as the deals ended.
The live TV streaming market is volatile. What it looks like today will likely be very different in a year.
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