Bolstered by strong growth in residential and commercial broadband services, as well as a stabilizing video business, cable operators will grow their collective revenue base by 7.4 percent by 2026 to nearly $141 billion, according to an SNL Kagan report.
“Like many industries, cable isn’t immune to shifting preferences, but continued growth in broadband may propel revenue growth on both the residential and commercial end,” said Tony Lenoir and Ian Olgeirson, the SNL Kagan analysts who created the report, in a joint statement. “Despite ongoing declines in video, the next 10 years look pretty good for this sector.”
Residential cable revenue is projected to grow by 8.6 percent to $117.7 billion by 2026, the SNL Kagan researchers said, fueled by what they called as a “slightly improved outlook for the video business and broadband.”
The analysts expect cable’s broadband subscriber base to grow by more than 8 million over the next 10 years, reaching 71 million — a factor of 1.6 times as many video customers.
Video subscriber attrition is slowing, SNL Kagan added. They expect an annual drop of around 1.5 percent to 45.4 million cable video subs by 2026. Over the last 10 years, the CAGR drop has been 1.7 percent.
Advertising revenue, meanwhile, is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3 percent and reach $6.3 billion by 2026.
SNL Kagan’s sunny 10-year outlook is supported by Evercore ISI data released today showing that cable increased its market share of pay-TV customers in the second quarter for the first time in years.
For more:
- read this SNL Kagan press release
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