Verizon Loses Pay TV Subscribers despite Adding Broadband Subscribers

 Despite posting what has been described as the ‘best annual performance since 2014’ for the company, it’s hard not to notice the continuing plunge of Pay TV subscribers and, presumably, advertising for Verizon. We turned to Brandon Blake, entertainment attorney and industry expert, for his insight on the losses and gains revealed in their Q4 statements.


                                                           Brandon  Blake

Massive Pay TV Exit

Overall, they have lost more than 69,000 net Pay TV subscribers for their FiOS consumer video service over Q4 alone. This builds on a 68,000 Q3 loss and a 72,000 loss in the year-ago period. 

Those are numbers that can’t be ignored. Of course, it’s not Verizon-specific. This is simply symptomatic of the continued exit from traditional linear video as more and more consumers choose over-the-top offerings instead. However, those are numbers that have to hurt.

Broadband Boost

Of course, for Verizon itself, it’s lucky to have the offset of its own internet services, if not an actual TV streamer, to offer. We’ve seen this manifest this quarter as 55,000 new subscribers were added. It still pales a little next to the near-double (92,000) from the year-ago period.

Since they have no streamer of their own, Verizon has been compensating for the decline of linear TV through strategic distribution partnerships with third-party streaming services like Disney, Hulu, and ESPN+. We also saw them offload Verizon Media, meaning these are the first results we’ve seen without AOL and Yahoo included. 

As we see Pay TV subscribers sink, it’s inevitable that they will take key Pay TV ad revenue with them, too. 2022 is likely to be a watershed year for this. Where to from here? It’s hard to say, but Blake & Wang P.A will keep you informed every step of the way.


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