Anyone who pays attention to the broadcasting space is familiar with the phrase “cord cutters”. Cord cutters refers to people who have adopted the small, yet growing, trend of people who have cut the cord from traditional cable companies and get their video content solely from other free sources. A new study by TiVo finds that this trend is continuing to grow in 2017.
TiVo’s Q1 2017 Video Trends Report found that of the 3,081 American adults they surveyed, 84.8% had a pay-TV service. However, what makes this report interesting is what it found next. Of the 15.2% of respondents who did not have a pay-TV service, 21.8% of them said that they had cut the cord within the last year. That’s an increase of 4.4% over last year–meaning that the cord-cutting trend is on the rise!
What are the alternatives to pay-TV? Antennas apparently. The same study found that just under 46% of those who have cut the cord get their video programming via a home antenna to get basic broadcast TV networks.
Why are consumers continuing to cut the cord? The cost of services. 79.7% of respondents listed “price” as the primary contributing factor that led them to cut their pay-TV service.
Having a multitude of options has been another reason so many people are leaving pay-TV behind. Approximately 58% of respondents said OTT options are what led them to finally cut the cord. That’s up 9.3% quarter-over-quarter! Following OTT options was antenna use coming in at 32.5% followed by the desire to binge-watch a TV series through a streaming service–which came in at 26.7%.
Whatever the reason, an increasing number of consumers are making the choice to cut the cord and move away from pay-TV services. This new TiVo survey provides the data to back it up. It will be interesting to come back to this survey in 2018 and see if the trend continues to grow. There are many people on both sides of the issue–some who believe that pay-TV is becoming a thing of the past, and others who bet major providers will use their money to find a way to stay relevant.
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