There was a quarterly rise of 2.69 million subscribers to the television services in the informitv Multiscreen Index in the second quarter of 2018, an increase of 0.6%, the second smallest seen so far. 51 of the 100 services reported net subscriber gains.
In the Americas there was an increase of just 0.18 million subscribers. The top 10 service providers in the United States lost over 358,000 television subscribers between them, although they still serve 83.56 million homes. DIRECTV lost 286,000 satellite subscribers, while the DIRECTV NOW online gained 325,000.
In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region there was a net gain of 0.69 million subscribers, led by the addition of almost 800,000 for Canal+ International. Rostelecom added 97,000 telco television customers in Russia.
In Asia Pacific there was an increase of 1.81 million, with Airtel Digital TV in India making the greatest gains, adding 478,000. Dish TV added 300,000, extending its lead in the region and it is now the leading service by subscribers in the Multiscreen Index, with a total of 23.30 million.
AT&T has the most subscribers by group, with a total of 39.10 million, which was an increase of 203,000 in the quarter. Sky is the second largest, with 23.01 million customers across Europe, an increase of 107,000.
BT and TalkTalk both drop out of the Multiscreen Index. Having stalled at around 3 million television subscribers between them, they no longer report numbers.
| Service | Change quarter |
Subscribers m |
|---|---|---|
| 2,945,575 | 89.36 | |
| Canal+ International | 799,000 | 7.54 |
| Airtel Digital TV | 478,000 | 14.65 |
| Tivibu | 335,000 | 3.26 |
| DIRECTV NOW | 325,000 | 1.74 |
| Dish TV | 300,000 | 23.30 |
| SITI | 200,000 | 11.70 |
| DIRECTV Latin America | 140,000 | 13.71 |
| Tigo Latin America | 139,766 | 2.56 |
| LG U+ | 118,809 | 3.79 |
| GTPL | 110,000 | 7.11 |
Canal+ International includes services in Africa, Poland, Vietnam and Overseas. Dish TV merged with Videocon d2h on 22 March 2018. DIRECTV Latin America consolidates the PanAmericana and Sky Brasil subscribers from Q1 2018. Tigo Latin America includes customers of Tigo in El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras, and TigoUNE in Columbia, Bolivia and Paraguay.
“While satellite and telco television gained subscribers, there was a 0.36 million quarterly loss among cable television services, the first seen in the Multiscreen Index,” noted editor Dr William Cooper. “Online television services, represented by Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW, with just over 4 million subscribers between them, gained 0.37 million.”
The Multiscreen Index comprises 100 leading multichannel television and video services based in 38 countries that collectively account for around 430 million subscribing homes worldwide. The index provides an industry benchmark of the relative performance of television service providers against which customer gains or losses can be measured.