Sling TV ended the second quarter of 2023 with just over 2 million subscribers. While this keeps Sling TV in third position behind YouTube TV and Hulu Live TV, it is one of the lowest subscriber counts we’ve seen for Sling TV for some time.
For years now, Sling TV has never seen massive swings in either direction. Instead, it has consistently remained between 2.2 and 2.5 million subscribers. At the start of 2023, for example, Sling was delivering live TV to around 2.3 million subscribers.
At the end of the first quarter of this year, that number had dropped down to around 2.1 million. Dish Network today confirmed that the number of subscribers stood at 2 million, as of June 30, 2023, resulting in a decrease of another 100,000 during the second quarter of 2023.
While still within the 2-2.5 million subscriber range, it is certainly at the lowest end. According to the Streaming Better subscriber tracker, the Sling TV subscriber base has not been this low since before 2018.
For reference, a similar pattern did happen last year. After starting 2022 with close to 2.5 million subscribers, Sling TV dropped down to 2.2 million by the end of the second quarter. The service then rebounded back up to around 2.4 million at the end of the third quarter, so it is possible Sling TV could see another good third quarter this year. Whether it rebounds quite as much, however, remains to be seen.
It is also worth noting that it wasn’t just Sling TV that saw a subscriber decline. Dish reported 6.9 million Dish TV subscribers at the end of Q2, resulting in 8.9 million pay-TV subscribers in total, and an overall pay-TV decrease of 294,000 in the second quarter.
