Of the 14 traditional and virtual multichannel services reviewed by S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan, virtual multichannel services like Fubo and Sling generally had the highest monthly churn rates according to our MediaCensus online consumer survey. Overall, traditional multichannel average monthly churn was 1.1% over the last year, while virtual services came in with a higher, 1.3% rate.

Three of the five operators with the highest churn rates were smaller virtual services including Fubo (2.1%) and Sling (1.7%).

But the larger virtual operations had better retention, possibly thanks to deeper catalogs. Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube TV ranked in the middle at 1.2% monthly video churn, as did Walt Disney Co.'s Hulu + Live TV. Cable giants Charter Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp. were both at 0.8%, according to our survey and our methodology, which simply divides total surveyed by operator by the number who said they left their operator in the last year.

Access full tables in Excel format, including additional data, here.

Virtual multichannel services compete partially by offering more relaxed cancellation rules compared to more traditional linear multichannel services. This has enabled customers to dip in and out to catch a sports season or to just watch a specific program, versus remaining with a service year-round.

That said, the highest monthly churn rate based on our survey was for AT&T Inc.'s telco TV service U-Verse, with 3.1% of its customers canceling on average each month over the last year. AT&T’s U-Verse video operations were divested in 2021 into a private company that included satellite video giant DIRECTV. The combined company has been encouraging its legacy telco and satellite multichannel customers to switch to its streaming service, simply named "DIRECTV," which is delivered over the top, like Hulu + Live TV.

Unfortunately, DIRECTV's streaming service had the second highest churn rate of the group at 2.4%, according to the survey. Survey takers had the ability to select between satellite "DIRECTV" and "DIRECTV via Internet," so potential for confusion remains in resulting data. The satellite DIRECTV option reported a much lower monthly churn rate of 0.6%, near its satellite video competitor DISH at 0.8%, according to survey results.

We also asked those who recently switched for their previous video providers.

When we asked those using a virtual service (all combined in table below) for only a year who their prior operators were, a traditional multichannel operator was the most common answer with Comcast, AT&T U-Verse and Charter the top three.

Current cable subscribers who churned over the past year were less likely to indicate they previously subscribed to another traditional operator, compared to current telco and satellite subs. Instead, they were more likely to report they did not previously have TV service, with the largest share of those among Optimum subs at 27%. Sixteen percent indicated that they switched from a virtual service, with the largest shares among Comcast Xfinity and Verizon Fios, both at 20%.

Looking at subscribers to specific operators shows that the largest share of Xfinity subs came from AT&T U-verse at 13%, followed by YouTube TV at 9%. Among those switching to Verizon Communications Inc.'s Fios, the largest share came from Xfinity at 18%. Among satellite subscribers, very few switched from DIRECTV to DISH or vice versa, at 8% and 5%, respectively.

As noted, virtual subscribers most indicated that they previously subscribed to a traditional operator with the largest share among DIRECTV via Internet subs at 80%, followed by YouTube TV at 76%.

Fifteen percent reported switching from another virtual service. This was especially prevalent among Fubo subs, with 14% switching from Sling and another 14% coming from YouTube TV. A notable share of DIRECTV via Internet, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV subs came from AT&T U-verse, at 22%, 15% and 13%, respectively. There was some subscriber swapping between the two biggest virtual services, with 11% of Hulu + Live TV subs coming from YouTube TV, and 7% going the other way.

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