North America to shed 10m pay-TV subscribers by 2029

North America will lose almost 10m pay-TV subscribers by 2029, according to a new study by Digital TV Research.

The North America Pay TV Forecasts report expects the US to have 9.5m fewer subscribers by 2029 compared with 2023 at 50.7m.

Canada will lose 505,000 subscribers to total 8.9m by 2029.

This puts the total number of pay-TV subscribers in North America at 59.5m by 2029. For comparison, it is estimated that there were 111m subscribers in 2015.

As a result, pay-TV penetration will drop to 43% by 2029, from 85% in 2015, with the US forecast to dip below 50% this year.

In 2024, Digital TV Research forecasts US subscribers to drop by 3.9m to 56.3m. In Canada, subscribers are anticipated to total 9.2m, a fall of 205,000.