The bad news for the established TV industry is that cord-cutting is carrying on apace, but in a crumb of comfort it appears that such people are not turning their back on TV and video per se, just how it is offered to them.
An analysis by comScore looking at the over-the-top (OTT) viewing habits of US households found that the average OTT viewing home spends 49 hours a month viewing OTT content, while cord-cutter homes consume 79 hours of OTT content a month, roughly 2.5 hours per day and 60% more than the average. By comparison, the average US household watched 225 hours of traditional linear TV content.
Looking to find who the cord-cutters may be, the survey found that they are more likely to have annual incomes of $75,000 or less, and the lower the income, the more likely they are to be a cord-cutter. Homes with annual incomes of $60,000 to $75,000 are 8% more likely to be cord-cutters compared to the average OTT viewing Wi-Fi enabled home. Homes with income between $40,000 and $60,000, were 14% more likely, while those homes with less than $40,000 annual income were 20% more likely. The homes least likely to cut the cord are homes with incomes between $75,000 and $150,000.
Mike Rich, VP, emerging products at comScore, suggested that these cord-cutting households seem to have less of an overall appetite for television content, which may explain their decision to cut the cord. “Without pay-TV competing for their attention, cord-cutters do tend to watch quite a bit more OTT content,” he explained. “They spend 41% more time on Netflix, 47% more time on YouTube, 45% more time on Amazon Video, and 13% more time on Hulu compared with the average OTT viewer.”
The analysis also found that cord-cutters were more likely to use a streaming box or stick to power their OTT viewing habits. These devices were found to be present in 71% of cord cutting homes, compared with 59% of all OTT viewing Wi-Fi homes. Cord-cutters were slightly less likely to use game consoles (43% penetration) and connected TVs (42%) than the average Wi-Fi home. The comScore report concluded that this seemed to suggest that these consumers actively seek out and use a streaming first device when electing to cut the cord.
