1. Screen Wars Podcast: Loop Media’s Bob Gruters on Bringing TV Everywhere
My conversation with Bob Gruters. Bob is currently the Chief Revenue Officer at Loop Media. Due to his experience on both the digital (Loop Media and Facebook) and linear (MTV and Univision) sides of convergent, he understands it from all angles.
In this episode, we cover:
1) The future of TV when screens are everywhere
2) How agencies should look at evolving mediums such as digital out-of-home (DOOH)
3) Why “it’s all just TV”
2. Cutting the Cord: Pay-TV’s Subscriber Base Plummets by 1.7 Million in Q2
Seven big questions re: cord-cutting:
1) How many homes subscribe to a pay-TV bundle?
2) What share of pay-TV subscriptions is streaming?
3) What does a streaming pay-TV subscriber look like?
4) Are streaming pay-TV services replacing all the subscribers leaving traditional pay-TV?
5) What share of households subscribes to a traditional and streaming pay-TV service?
6) Why would someone subscribe to both?
7) Is time spent with cable declining at the same rate as subscribers?
Big question #1: How many homes subscribe to a pay-TV bundle?
Quick answer: 73M
YoY change in pay-TV subscribers:
1) Traditional pay-TV – ↓ 6.5M
2) Streaming pay-TV – ↑ 1.1M
3) Total pay-TV – ↓ 5.4M
Total pay-TV subscriptions (YoY growth):
1) 2019-Q2 – 91.0M
2) 2020-Q2 – 85.9M (↓ 6%)
3) 2021-Q2 – 82.5M (↓ 5%)
4) 2022-Q2 – 78.1M (↓ 5%)
5) 2023-Q2 – 72.7M (↓ 7%)
Big question #2: What share of pay-TV subscriptions is streaming?
Quick answer: 19%
Streaming pay-TV subscriptions (YoY growth):
1) 2019-Q2 – 8.2M
2) 2020-Q2 – 9.9M (↑ 20%)
3) 2021-Q2 – 11.7M (↑ 18%)
4) 2022-Q2 – 13.0M (↑ 17%)
5) 2023-Q2 – 14.2M (↑ 9%)
Big question #3: What does a streaming pay-TV subscriber look like?
Quick answer: Streaming pay-TV subscribers look the same as traditional pay-TV subscribers, except they are slightly younger.
Big question #4: Are streaming pay-TV services replacing all the subscribers leaving traditional pay-TV?
Quick answer: No. Since 2019, streaming pay-TV has only gained 24% of the subscriptions lost by traditional pay-TV.
Big question #5: What share of households subscribes to a traditional and streaming pay-TV service?
Quick answer: 5%
Why this matters: If accurate, roughly 6M pay-TV subscriptions would be duplicates.
Big question #6: Why would someone subscribe to both?
Reasons for subscribing to both streaming and traditional pay-TV, according to Kagan:
1) Better on-demand viewing – 27%
2) Multiple HH members can watch at the same time – 27%
3) Trying out something new – 25%
4) Watching on the go – 23%
5) Don’t want to connect multiple TVs to cable – 20%
Big question #7: Is time spent with cable declining at the same rate as subscribers?
Quick answer: No. Time spent is declining 2X as fast as subscribers.
