Video Tops Subscriber Adds in Second Quarter

Broadband Internet access grew the fastest of a range of 10 video, voice and other consumer services in the second quarter of 2009, an analysis by Silicon Alley Insider suggests. About 3.3 million more net new broadband subscribers were added in the second quarter of 2009, compared to the same quarter of 2008.


Cable-provided VoIP added 2.46 million more subs, year over year. Netflix was third, adding 2.19 million more subs in the quarter, compared to last year. Telco TV services followed closely, with 2.16 million more new subs.

Cable added 1.7 million more digital cable subs while satellite providers added about a million more new subs. Cable additions likely were aided by "digital conversion" programs where analog service customers are flipped over to digital tiers of service.

But TiVo (News - Alert), Vonage and Sirius XM all lost net subscribers, compared to the second quarter of 2008.

Overall, subscription video grew despite TiVo's weakness. Digital cable, telco TV (FiOS (News - Alert) from Verizon and U-Verse from AT&T), and satellite combined for 4.8 million net new subscribers in the 12-month period ending this June, more than the number of new broadband Internet subscribers. Meanwhile, Netflix added 2.2 million new subscribers.)

VoIP subscribers also grew, adding 2.5 million cable subs. Overall, though, video services added twice as many subs as did broadband Internet access or VoIP services, among the 10 services tracked.