The number of subscribers to pay TV keeps falling, especially among the younger generation and one-person households, a report said Tuesday. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 31 (Korea Bizwire) — The accelerating shift from traditional pay TV to online streaming platforms is deepening South Korea’s cord-cutting trend, as the number of pay TV subscribers continued to decline in the second half of 2024.
According to a report released Thursday by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the total number of pay TV subscriptions fell by 19,964 to 36.36 million in the second half of 2024 — marking the second consecutive biannual drop.
This follows the first-ever subscriber decline recorded in the first half of 2024, when the industry lost 5,755 subscribers. The latest decrease is more than three times that amount.
While Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) providers — typically bundled with broadband services — saw a modest increase of 0.76%, rising from 21.15 million to 21.31 million subscribers, traditional cable and satellite services continued to shed users.
Changes in Subscription Figures Across Paid Media Outlets. (Image courtesy of the Ministry of Science and ICT)
Cable subscriptions fell by 1.12%, while satellite subscriptions dropped 1.48%, reinforcing the shift toward more flexible, on-demand content delivery.
Market share by platform now stands at 58.6% for IPTV, 33.75% for cable (SO), and 7.65% for satellite broadcasting.
Among service providers, KT remains the market leader with 8.99 million subscribers (24.71%), followed by SK Broadband’s IPTV service with 6.78 million (18.65%), and LG Uplus with 5.54 million (15.24%). LG HelloVision and SK Broadband’s cable services round out the top five.
Industry analysts expect the cord-cutting trend to persist into 2025, as consumers increasingly opt for online streaming platforms over conventional broadcast bundles.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
