The traditional pay-TV sector saw a decline in subscriptions for the ninth consecutive year according to a new report from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The decline was largely due to cord cutting, with penetration dropping from over 80% in 2011 to 34.4% by the end of 2024. This shift reflects a broader consumer preference for streaming services over traditional cable, S&P said.
"Basic cable networks in the US shed subscribers in 2024 at an average rate of 7.1% as the pay TV universe continues to contract. This marks the ninth consecutive year of the declining subscribers for the industry as consumers trade in their traditional pay TV subscriptions for streaming services and other digital options."
Competition from streaming SVOD services as well as virtual multichannel video program distributors (vMVPDs) like YouTube TV. Overall, there were 23.0 million virtual multichannel subscribers, including services like YouTube TV.
Among the 190 networks analyzed, 36 have over 60 million subscribers, while 49 have less than 10 million. This disparity highlights the uneven distribution of subscribers across networks, with some networks maintaining a strong subscriber base despite industry challenges, S&P said.
The most widely distributed channels were C-SPAN, with 69.6 million subscribers, followed closely by Food Network with 68.4 million. Both networks benefit from being included in basic packages, contributing to their high subscriber counts, S&P said.
The average cable network is anticipated to see a 5.4% annual decline in subscribers from 2025 to 2029, with C-SPAN and Food Network projected to lose 15 to 20 million subscribers by 2029.
C-SPAN announced last week that YouTube TV and Hulu Live Plus would begin carrying the non-profit network this fall.
