Pay TV's downfall is likely due to the rise of SVOD services such as Netflix and Amazon, used by more than two-thirds of English-speaking Canadians and half of French-speaking Canadians.
The percentage of Canadian homes with traditional pay-TV has fallen below 50% - Pay-TV is expected to drop 0.4 million to 7.9 million by the end of 2021, according to eMarketer. In 2022, the Canadian pay-TV industry will lose another 0.3 million subscribers lowering the penetration to 48.9%.
In the US, 74.3 million homes have a cable, satellite, or telco TV subscription accounting for 58.8% of the 126.3 million inhabited residences. Penetration dropped to 6.9% in 2021. with only 2.9 million homes opting out of pay-TV this year compared to 3.4 million in 2020,
The trend will likely leak across the border, with pay-TV penetration in the US likely to drop below 50% in 2023. However, if fewer people subscribe to vMVPD and the medium's growth slows, the big pay bundle of TV channels' penetration could drop below 50% by 2027, compared to 67.5% currently.
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