Sling TV’s subscriber base just hit a five-year low as the company faces challenges from newer streaming services.
Sling was once the leading live TV streaming platform, but the company’s growth has been stagnant for several years. According to Digital Trends, the company’s latest quarter reveals its lowest subscriber base in five years, coming it at just 2.1 million subscribers.
To be clear, Sling has not experienced a precipitous decline. In fact, as the outlet points out, the services has averaged 2.4 million subscribers for the last 21 quarters, with a high of 2.686 million in September 2019. In that same time, however, many of its rivals have grown to double its size.
Sling recently rebranded its free tier as Sling Freestream, an ad-supported option offering more than 210 channels and 41,000 on-demand titles. The company is clearly hoping its new free tier will help it reignite growth.