Even though TV watching has been up in 2020, when it comes to pay TV subscriptions the numbers are historic in the wrong kind of way. According to a report from eMarketer, cable, satellite and telecom TV providers are on pace to lose the most subscribers ever in a single year in 2020. By the end of the year, eMarketer is projecting that 31.2 million U.S. households will have cut the cable cord in aggregate. In addition, 6.6 million households are expected to cancel their pay TV subscriptions. Projecting down the road, eMarketer estimates that a third of U.S. households will have cut the pay TV cord by 2024.
If basic cable programmers are in fear of losing young customers due to soaring cable subscription prices, premium-priced pay television programmers could be at greater risk. A new study says pay TV programmers are at risk of losing young TV viewers/consumers 18-29 — so-called Generation Ys, about 70 million strong — due to growing price sensitivities for all kinds of subscription television.
