Linear Pay TV Revenue Set to Crater By 28% to $62B in North America by 2025

Revenue generated by pay TV operators in the U.S. and Canada will fall to just over $62 billion by 2025, according to new data provided by Digital TV Research.

That’s about $24 billion less than the nearly $87 billion projected by the research company that will be generated by these operators in 2020. And it’s more than $56 billion less than what was made in 2015.

These days, there are always lots of cord-cutting reports after the major U.S. pay TV operators provide their quarterly earnings data. These reports mainly focus on the number of subscribers leaving the traditional pay TV ecosystem.

But Digital TV Research’s data shows the financial impact to operators across the board. Comcast, Charter Communications, Rogers Communications and other cable operators in the U.S. and Canada will see just under $10 billion in video services revenue disappear between 2020 and 2025.

Satellite TV operators including DirecTV and Dish Network will watch just under $11 billion vanish, while Verizon, AT&T and other IPTV operators will see pay TV revenue decline from 8.4 billion to $4.4 billion over this five-year span.

Pay TV penetration into U.S. homes peaked at 87.4% in 2010, equity research firm MoffettNathanson said. As of the end of 2019, it had declined to 65.3%.

“The loss of 42 million pay TV subscribers between 2010 and 2025 is mostly responsible for this [revenue] decline,” said Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, in a statement. "Operators now put more emphasis on broadband connections than on traditional pay TV channels.”

Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!