This document analyzes the market for Sling TV, an over-the-top internet television service. It finds that while Sling TV has competitive prices at $30/month, it lacks local channels that competitors offer. Sling TV lost 281,000 subscribers in Q1 2020 due to the pandemic. The document recommends that Sling TV partner with mobile carriers to boost its reach through 5G networks, expand its à la carte offerings to differentiate itself, and continue its competitive pricing strategy.

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A Market Analysis for
Sling TV
Christopher Lo Presti
Full Sail University
Project & Portfolio II: Business and Marketing
(August 2, 2020)

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report presents an analysis of Sling TV, an American over-the-top internet television service
launched in 2015, and its market. Including how it draws attention to the fast-growing consumer
base of cable-cutters and how they have affected traditional cable services for switching to
streaming services. It Incorporates studies on customers' budgets and describes how it fits in line
with Sling's TV business model vs. its competitors. In addition, you will find information on how
Sling TV could utilize the new broadband speed of 5G to increase its monthly subscribers and
including suggestions of possible partnerships to increase product awareness and its popular a-la-
carte TV streaming service.

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OBJECTIVE
This analysis's primary objective is to study Sling TV's market's audience and their behavior with
the different streaming services that are currently available in the market. Also, understand
purchase behavior and the customers' needs when choosing a streaming service. e.g., Streaming
services like Hulu Live TV and FuboTV offer less flexible cable packages with a higher fee than
Sling TV. What attracts the customers to these services instead of Sling TV ? & How can the
service (Sling TV) stay competitive with more services launching each year?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The data collected is external, all gathered through different news outlets, government websites,
and Full Sail Library. The data collected is both quantitative and qualitative and published in the
past five years. The process of collecting the data was in July 2020, and most essential of the
data was collected; the few financial statements that are still unreleased would not have swayed
the results.
RESEARCH AND KEY FINDINGS
As a subsidiary company to DISH Network, Sling TV is an
award-winning service that pioneered the live tv streaming
services in the United States. Sling TV is also nationally
recognized in its industry by its revolutionary engineering
(Cision PR Newswire, January 2020). It is currently one of
the most affordable cable streaming services in the market. Financially, both its parent company
and the subsidiary have reported losses in their first quarter of 2020, signaling the COVID-19
Figure 1 Sling TV ad

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pandemic and its devastating impact on the economic environment (Friedman, May 2020). Sling
TV reported a lost 281,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2020 and now has 2.31million
active subscribers.
The service's consumer base is commonly known as
"cord-cutters," which has resulted in one of the fastest-
growing groups. According to studies, by the end of the
year 2020, almost 20% of US households will switch
from their cable service to a streaming service (No
Cable, n.d.). One of the crucial assets that enable
companies like Sling TV and others to reach this many
consumer plus allow new business models is the
improvement of data transmission through connection broadband (McFerran, 2018). Most
recently, the 5G broadband network, soon to be released nationwide, is expected to allow
superior upload and download speeds that would benefit significantly streaming services and its
millions of subscribers.
Figure 2Marketing Charts
Figure 2 Cord Cutting Statistics for 2020

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The data collected allowed for a greater understanding of the "cord-cutter" and their preference.
Reviewing its demographic, two significant factors stood out. (1) The majority of the cord-cutter
audience is of the millennial generation. (2) Although its audience takes part in all five social
classes, it's most dominant is its lower middle class. Further studies also confirm that most "cord-
cutters" don't expect to pay more than $30/month. However, smaller groups are willing to spend
$60+ for their favorite entertainment (Marketing Charts, January 2020).
With Sling TV being recognized for its top-level engineering, good picture quality, and
competitive pricing, the service feels incomplete for some of its customers. Most noticeably, the
service lacks the support of local channels and requires additional equipment to receive channels
like NBC and FOX in certain markets (Dish, Sep 2019). Although the company offers free cable
antennas for qualifying customers to lessen the impact it may have on its subscriber, it may be
just enough to lose the customer to a competitive service that includes the different channels in
their streaming packages.
CONCLUSIONS
Although Sling TV offers very competitive prices, its market is highly saturated. Marketing
experts would refer to this as a "red ocean." Large companies from the likes of Goggle, Disney,
and Amazon all offer competitive services that offer similar services and content. To Sling TV
benefits, the cable cutter audience is just growing year after year, and faster data broadbands
speeds will become available to many consumers around the country, allowing the service to
penetrate in new areas.

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The data collected throughout the analysis proved the pricing for Sling TV services is precisely
what the majority of consumers are willing to spend monthly. Unfortunately, the services lack
the support of local channels in major areas where their competitors, pricing more, have
managed to incorporate them into their packages. Channels like ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox,
which still rank high among television viewers, are missing, but where Sling TV strives is in
their two $30 Blue and Orange packages (Gushue, Jan 2020). This type of strategy allows for
great flexibility to the consumer, and it's unique to the service. Something that neither their
competitors in the streaming market and even its parent company in the digital cable industry
offers.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Since the launch of Sling TV, one of its biggest strengths has been its a-la-carte business model,
as it has given the service great flexibility to attract different consumers. With the latest 5G
network soon released nationwide, allowing for improved download and upload speeds,
extending and improving its a-la-carte business model will allow for a larger distinction from its
many competitors. Also, if the service were to support 4K streaming, the increase of resolution
will attract specific customers who like to enjoy their content(sports, news, movies, series) at the
highest fidelity. A feature that its competitors like FuboTV, Disney+(plus), Netflix, and others
offer through their services.
With the supporting data confirming that its dominant audience is in the lower middle class and
with a group majority from the millennial generational group, Sling TV has the opportunity to
make a significant impact with the launch of the 5G network in the nation. Through a timed
partnership with a mobile carrier like T-Mobile, who has no current ties to any cable provider.

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A business like this could be beneficial to both entities. It will allow Sling TV to reach new
groups, but it will also help the carrier show the speed and reliability of their brand new 5G
connection to their customers with live TV streaming everywhere you go.
Lastly, going forward into the year, the service should continue its current pricing strategy.
Unfortunately, it has lost some appeal year after year due to the abundance of streaming services
in the market. But with other services like YouTube TV, Hulu Plus-Live TV, and FuboTV
starting at $54.99 a month. Almost double to Sling TV $30 a month for their Blue or Orange
packages. The service could be an entry point to many who have yet to cut ties with their digital
cable subscription. Plus, the addition of a possible partnership could bring a lot of new
subscribers to the services and allow them to not only recoup what they lost in Q1 but also
surpass their numbers.

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REFERENCES:
Dish (2019, Sep 26) Fox Blocks Millions of DISH and Sling TV Customers from Local Channels,
Cable Networks. Cision PR Newswire. Retrieved from,
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fox-blocks-millions-of-dish-customers-from-
local-channels-cable-networks-300926405.html
Friedman.W (2020, May 7) Dish's Sling TV Takes Big Q1 Subscriber Hit Due To COVID-19.
Retrieved from, https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/351134/dishs-sling-tv-
takes-big-q1-subscriber-hit-due-to.html
Gushue. J (2020, January 30) We compared Sling’s Orange and Blue streaming plans, and Blue
offers the best value with more live TV channels. Business Insiders. Retrieved from,
https://www.businessinsider.com/sling-orange-vs-sling-
blue#:~:text=They%20offer%20two%20streaming%20options,local%20NBC%20and%2
0Fox%20channels.
Marketing Charts (2020, Jan 23) How Much Are Consumers Willing to Spend on SVOD
Services? Retrieved from, https://www.marketingcharts.com/digital/video-111659
McFerran. D (2018, Sep 08) How 5G will make our streaming dreams come true. TechRadar.
Retrieved from, https://www.techradar.com/news/the-perfect-stream-dream
No cable. (n.d.) Cord Cutting Statistics for 2020. No Cable. Retrieved from,
https://nocable.org/learn/cable-tv-cord-cutting-statistics/
Sling TV LLC. (2020, Jan 15) Sling TV granted prestigious Technology & Engineering Emmy
Award. Ciston PR Newswire. Retrieved from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-
releases/sling-tv-granted-prestigious-technology--engineering-emmy-award-
300987637.html
IMAGES:
eMarketer (2020, Feb 1) [Photograph] US Pay TV vs. Non-Pay TV Households, 2015-2024
https://www.emarketer.com/chart/233720/us-pay-tv-vs-non-pay-tv-households-2015-
2024-millions
Frederic, J. (2019, February 21). Sling TV Logo [Photograph].
https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/21/sling-tv-now-has-2-2m-subscribers-making-it-the-
largest-internet-based-live-tv-service/
Marketing Charts (2020, Jan 23) [Photograph]. How Much Consumers Are Willing to Spend on
Video Streaming Services Each Month https://www.marketingcharts.com/digital/video-111659