We’ve all heard about the cord cutting trend, where consumers are disconnecting pay-TV service in favor of OTT video services. This has implications for CDG clients, both for those who offer traditional pay-TV services, and for those that do not. Some recent research reveals more details about this trend.
Three-quarters of U.S. television households now have pay TV service, but the percentage is continuing to decline, according to Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG).
The percentage of TV households that subscribe to a live pay-TV (cable, satellite, Telco, or Internet-delivered) service is down from 84% in 2014, 87% in 2009, and 81% in 2004, though the amount spent for service has risen 6% since 2016, to a total of $109.60 per month.
According to LRG, mean spending on pay-TV across all households, including non-subscribers, is about $80 per month, slightly less than the 2015 figure.
Among the report’s other findings:
- Six-in-10 pay-TV subscribers have a bundle of services from a provider – compared to 67% in 2014
- More than four-fifths (83%) of adults ages 45+ have a pay-TV service – compared to 64% of ages 18-44
- Nearly nine-in-10 (87%) of households with three or more TVs have a pay-TV service – compared to 75% with two TVs, and 52% with one TV.
- 54% of TV households have both a pay-TV service and an SVOD service, 21% only have a pay-TV service, 20% only have an SVOD service, and about 5% have neither pay-TV nor SVOD
- 47% of all TV sets in use have a pay-TV providers’ set-top box – marking the first year since 2010 that set-tops have been connected to less than half of all TVs
- 27% of TV households have an over-the-air TV antenna – including 53% among pay-TV non-subscribers
“Three-quarters of households that use a TV currently subscribe to a pay-TV service. This is similar to the total receiving an SVOD service,” said Bruce Leichtman, Leichtman Research Group, Inc president and principal analyst, in a prepared statement. “With more options for watching live and on-Demand video, consumers are increasingly choosing to cobble together the services that meet the viewing and economic needs of their household.”