Streaming TV services will nab 25% of video market by 2022, analyst says

Sling TV, DirecTV Now and other streaming TV services will continue their current growth trend over the next few years and expand their share of the pay TV market.That’s according to UBS analyst John Hodulik, who said that despite recent price increases, virtual MVPDs will account for about 25% of the video market by 2022.“Pricing remains at a wide discount to traditional TV, while offerings continue to improve with fewer programming gaps, additional features and improved transmission quality,” Hodulik wrote in a research note.UBS forecasts 9.2 million streaming TV subscribers by the end of 2018, and 24 million by the end of 2022.In the shorter term, UBS is predicting vMVPDs will add 850,000 subscribers during the third quarter, down slightly from the 890,000 they added in the second quarter. The firm predicts streaming TV subscribers will total 8.2 million in the third quarter.Among the leaders, DirecTV Now should continue to see solid subscriber growth of about 320,000 despite some pressure from a recent price increase, Hodulik said.