How Did YouTube TV Add Half a Million Subscribers Last Quarter?
The cord-cutting movement marches on. Cable giant Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) lost another 273,000 pay-TV customers last quarter, while AT&T (NYSE: T) shed another 627,000 cable TV subscribers during the three-month stretch ending in September. Both are extensions -- and microcosms -- of forces working against the entire cable television industry.
However, there's a noteworthy name bucking this attrition trend. Digital cable service YouTube TV now serves more than 3 million watchers, up from the 2 million its parent Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) confirmed were on board early this year before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Research outfit MoffettNathanson estimated YouTube TV had 2.5 million paying customers as of the end of June, up from an estimate of 2.3 million as of the end of the first quarter.
How is Alphabet's young cable alternative sidestepping the cord-cutting movement, particularly after July's price increase that made the service nearly as expensive as conventional cable? Perhaps some of the broad assumptions about cable's cost are wrong. Mostly though, Google's got a digital TV edge not many people fully appreciate.
Source Fool.com
