TiVo Loses 125k Subscribers vs. 163k in Previous Quarter
In the quarter ending January 31, 2009, TiVo’s total subscribers fell 125,000 to 3.335 million, approximately the same level they had in April, 2005. As we’ve written before, TiVo could have a valuable intellectual property portfolio, but its hardware selling business is over. For the most recent quarter which included Christmas, it sold approximately 650 of its own TiVo DVRs a day.
TiVo subscribers July 2001- January 2009
(millions, except for Net Additions which are thousands)
| TiVo-Owned | MSOs | Total | Net Additions | |
| Jul-01 | 0.182 | 0.047 | 0.229 | |
| Oct-01 | 0.206 | 0.074 | 0.280 | 51 |
| Jan-02 | 0.246 | 0.134 | 0.380 | 100 |
| Apr-02 | 0.270 | 0.152 | 0.422 | 42 |
| Jul-02 | 0.291 | 0.173 | 0.464 | 42 |
| Oct-02 | 0.321 | 0.189 | 0.510 | 46 |
| Jan-03 | 0.396 | 0.228 | 0.624 | 114 |
| Apr-03 | 0.433 | 0.270 | 0.703 | 79 |
| Jul-03 | 0.467 | 0.433 | 0.900 | 197 |
| Oct-03 | 0.526 | 0.476 | 1.002 | 102 |
| Jan-04 | 0.656 | 0.676 | 1.332 | 330 |
| Apr-04 | 0.724 | 0.872 | 1.596 | 264 |
| Jul-04 | 0.787 | 1.097 | 1.884 | 288 |
| Oct-04 | 0.890 | 1.413 | 2.303 | 419 |
| Jan-05 | 1.141 | 1.860 | 3.001 | 698 |
| Apr-05 | 1.213 | 2.107 | 3.320 | 319 |
| Jul-05 | 1.253 | 2.321 | 3.574 | 254 |
| Oct-05 | 1.308 | 2.700 | 4.008 | 434 |
| Jan-06 | 1.491 | 2.873 | 4.364 | 356 |
| Apr-06 | 1.542 | 2.875 | 4.417 | 53 |
| Jul-06 | 1.572 | 2.846 | 4.418 | 1 |
| Oct-06 | 1.625 | 2.809 | 4.434 | 16 |
| Jan-07 | 1.726 | 2.718 | 4.444 | 10 |
| Apr-07 | 1.727 | 2.615 | 4.342 | -102 |
| Jul-07 | 1.708 | 2.489 | 4.197 | -145 |
| Oct-07 | 1.712 | 2.355 | 4.067 | -130 |
| Jan-08 | 1.745 | 2.201 | 3.946 | -121 |
| Apr-08 | 1.728 | 2.073 | 3.801 | -145 |
| Jul-08 | 1.686 | 1.937 | 3.623 | -178 |
| Oct-08 | 1.658 | 1.802 | 3.460 | -163 |
| Jan-09 | 1.654 | 1.681 | 3.335 | -125 |
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To see TiVo’s share of the DVR installed base go here.
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“MSOs” refer to subscriptions sold to consumers by MSOs/Broadcasters such as DIRECTV, Cablevision Mexico, Seven (Australia), and Comcast for which TiVo expects to incur little or no acquisition costs.
Yeah, I’m not all that impressed with TiVo. I like DISH’s DVR system the best of all the ones I’ve seen.
Hey Nick, what time you do back on the midway? Ergen just called he said he needs you to shill over there for a bit.
Nick C, I cannot comment directly on TiVo hardware, I was a ReplayTV man myself till we had to go with the damn Comcast Motorola DVRs to get HD. What many people who are TiVo fans cannot usually get past is while it may be a good product, it is a terrible business except for potentially the value of their IP.
I’d be curious to know if nationally all cable and satellite services were experiencing decreases in subcription orders for DVR and basic programming packages. I’m just imagining that with the country in economic turmoil, people are downsizing their tv services and shifting things they once considered a need into the can do without category.
Matt, my anecdotal take is that *growth* of new services add ons did slow in Q4, but that so far there hasn’t been a downturn where people are downsizing. though almost all of the providers are experiencing some subscription attrition (Dish lost over a 100K subs in Q4, Comcast was down, etc) in the aggregate they are just moving around and AT&T is showing some growth.
there’s a lot of chatter on the internet about cutting the chord on cable and satellite (and by extension any DVR, HD, etc they offer) and watching TV via the Internet, but the numbers don’t seem to indicate that any real volume of people is doing that.
Matt2, since pretty much all other DVRs besides TiVo are provided by cable or satco providers who don’t provide those numbers regularly we may not find out. We usually get non-TiVo data from annual Nielsen estimates.
I would think Tivo’s declining numbers map up well to growth in Internet TV. If you can watch at ABC.com or Hulu, who needs to pay for or remember to set DVR recordings?
I vaguely recall an article here that noted DirecTV saw some Q4 growth? We had questioned how much of that growth was related to digital transition. Seeing the Q4 losses in Dish, TiVo, and Comcast…I wonder what DirecTV was doing *right* so that sales would grow for them?
Pete, TiVo’s declining results are much more due to the private label DVRs being pushed by cable and satellite providers.
I expected this for a while. This could maybe help broadcast numbers as there are less people with DVRs.
I also expected people to cut off their cable subscriptions, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.
Shoutout for my VCR! Oldschool, baby…
LOL
KC, who needs digital, baby! Analog, for the win!
johnthemon, as Bill said directly above you, this is due to people switching to other brands of DVR, usually offered through their cable or satellite provider, not dumping DVR altogether, so this will not help broadcast numbers at all.
I will miss TiVo if the brand dies completely. My DirecTiVo was my favorite DVR, and I really miss the doodoo-doodoo-doodoo sound. But, I don’t think there will ever be a time when I feel it’s necessary to pay extra for TiVo service, when I can get it so much cheaper through the cable or satellite company, and not have to pay for the box on top of the monthly fee.