Number of pay TV subscribers worldwide 2021-2023

The global pay TV market is experiencing a significant shift, with subscriber numbers dropping by nearly 30 million between 2021 and 2023. This trend reflects changing viewer preferences and the increasing popularity of streaming services.Streaming services challenge pay TV dominanceIn the United States, a major pay TV market, over half of TV households are now without a traditional cable, satellite, or telco TV subscription. Moreover, the pay TV penetration rate fell by 20 percentage points between 2014 and 2023, and only around two in three adults subscribed to such services as of September 2023. This decline is largely attributed to the rise of over-the-top (OTT) video services and streaming platforms, which offer more flexible and often less expensive alternatives.Cost comparison favors streaming optionsHowever, while the subscription fee for VOD services was affordable to the majority of consumers at the beginning of the streaming era, the cost of subscribing to multiple ad-free streaming platforms is now nearly equivalent to traditional pay TV in the United States. As of early 2024, the combined cost of the top SVOD services Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Hulu, Max, Paramount+, and Peacock without ads totaled 99.42 U.S. dollars, compared to around 105 dollars for a typical pay TV service. In contrast, for the ad-supported plans of the same platforms, the consumer pays half the amount of pay TV, further incentivizing cord-cutting. This flexible pricing structure, coupled with the convenience and content variety offered by streaming platforms, continues to challenge the pay TV industry's ability to retain subscribers.

全球付费电视市场正经历着一场显著的转变，2021年至2023年间，订阅用户数量下降了近3000万。这一趋势反映了观众偏好的变化以及流媒体服务的日益盛行。流媒体服务对付费电视的主导地位构成挑战。在美国这一主要的付费电视市场，超过一半的电视家庭目前未订阅传统的有线电视、卫星或电信电视服务。此外，付费电视的渗透率在2014年至2023年间下降了20个百分点，截至2023年9月，仅有大约三分之二成年人订阅此类服务。这一下降趋势主要归因于点播式（OTT）视频服务和流媒体平台的兴起，它们提供了更为灵活且往往成本更低的替代方案。成本比较倾向于流媒体选项。然而，尽管在流媒体时代初期，视频点播服务的订阅费用对大多数消费者来说是可负担的，但现在订阅多个无广告的流媒体平台的成本几乎与传统付费电视在美国相当。截至2024年初，Netflix、Disney+、Prime Video、Hulu、Max、Paramount+和Peacock等顶级订阅视频点播服务的总订阅费用为99.42美元，而典型付费电视服务的费用约为105美元。相比之下，对于相同平台的广告支持计划，消费者支付的金额仅为付费电视的一半，这进一步激励了用户切断传统电视服务。这种灵活的价格结构，加上流媒体平台提供的便利性和内容多样性，持续对付费电视行业保持订阅用户的能力构成挑战。