Prime Day promotion contributes to Sling TV subscriber loss
Dish announced last week that Sling TV posted its first quarterly net subscriber loss since launch in Q4 2019. This is a big swing for the service, considering that Sling’s 94,000 subscriber decline in Q4 2019 followed an impressive gain of 214,000 subscriptions in the quarter prior. Dish blamed increased competition and programming gaps for the decline. While these factors undoubtedly had an impact, it’s likely that the losses were compounded by users rolling off of Sling TV’s big Prime Day promotion. That promotion likely inflated Sling’s Q3 subscriber adds, and the count came crashing down when customers rolled off in Q4.
Amazon Prime Day has become the online shopping event of the summer, when the online retail giant attracts customers with 24+ hours of deals, including special offers on Amazon-branded hardware, such as Fire TV products. On July 15, 2019, customers purchasing a qualifying Fire TV device not only secured an attractive discounted price on the hardware, but also Sling TV monthly credits that would enable them to get the service for $10/month for three months (down from $25/month).
How big a deal could this promotion really have been for Sling TV? Pretty big.
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