IPTV & Cord-Cutting Statistics 2026

Every figure below names its source on the same line, so a single line can be quoted without the rest of the page. Figures are checked monthly and the last update date is shown at the top of this page, not only in the markup. Where a number is disputed between sources, both are given.

Last verified: 27 August 2026. Next scheduled check: 27 September 2026.

Pay-TV decline in the United States

• Roughly 80.7 million US households are projected to be cord-cutters or cord-nevers by the end of 2026, against 54.3 million paying for traditional pay-TV, according to Axis Intelligence.
• US pay-TV penetration is around 42.4% of households, down from roughly 88% at cable's peak in 2010, per CableCompare.
• Cord-cutting US households rose from 37.3 million in 2018 to 77.2 million in 2025, more than doubling in seven years, per Axis Intelligence.
• For the primary source on US pay-TV subscriber losses each quarter, see Leichtman Research Group, whose quarterly releases are what most secondary coverage is based on.
• For monthly share of total US TV viewing by platform, the primary source is Nielsen's The Gauge.

IPTV subscribers worldwide

• IPTV had approximately 250 million active subscribers worldwide as of 2026, per Apprupt's IPTV statistics roundup.
• Around 7.4 million Americans subscribe to an IPTV service, per Apprupt.
• Legacy telco IPTV remains significant: Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse reported roughly 4.6 million and 3.7 million users respectively, per Apprupt.

Wider streaming context

• Broad cord-cutting trend data and survey findings are collected by Techjury and HeadphonesAddict.
• US cord-cutter share over time is tracked by Statista (paywalled beyond the headline figure).

A note on these figures

Secondary aggregators disagree with each other, sometimes by tens of millions, because they mix projections with reported quarters and rarely state which. Where a figure matters to a buying decision we prefer the primary sources — Leichtman for subscriber counts, Nielsen for viewing share — and we say when a number is a projection rather than a reported result. Figures on this page that come from aggregators are marked with the aggregator's name, not dressed up as original research.

How we keep this current

The URL is /statistics/ with no year in it, so this page keeps its age as it is updated. The year appears in the title and is changed each January along with the figures; superseded numbers move into a history section below rather than being deleted, so the page grows instead of resetting. Pages that rank for statistics searches are markedly fresher than the web average, so a visible, honest update date is the point.

Where to go next

If you are working out whether IPTV is cheaper than your current TV bill, our IPTV vs cable comparison for 2026 works through the real monthly numbers. If you have already decided and want tested providers, start with Best IPTV Service 2026 or the subscription buyer's guide. Our methodology explains how we test.