U.S. viewers will spend more on streaming video than pay TV for the first time in 2024, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics.
Consumer spending on traditional pay TV services fell by 8 percent to $90.7 billion in 2020 and will decline further to $74.5 billion in 2023.
Spending on streaming services such as video-on-demand and internet-delivered subscription TV rose by 34 percent to $39.5 billion in 2020 and will reach $76.3 billion in 2024, passing pay TV for the first time.
Pay TV will account for only 40 percent of spending on video and TV services by 2026, compared to 81 percent ten years earlier.
Pay TV still commands much higher monthly revenues from its declining base of customers than from any single SVOD service. Pay TV revenues will shift further away from legacy pay TV as more households add new SVOD services while cutting the pay TV cord.
Michael Goodman, Director, TV & Media Strategies, said: “The fact that viewers are willing to divert an ever-increasing share of their entertainment wallet away from pay TV and towards new internet-based services demonstrates that the future lies with streaming video services rather than legacy pay TV players.”
