US Cord Cutting Q3 2018 SVOD Users the Driving Force

The 20,000 Foot View: Cord cutting is now a firmly entrenched component of the pay-TV business, especially in the US. Pay-TV providers of all kinds continue to shed subscribers each quarter, all against the backdrop of a continually expanding streaming market. However, the real story behind cord cutting is not how many people are doing it, but who is doing it. In this column we highlight findings from MIDiA’s            Cord Cutting report, deep diving into cord cutting both from a supply and from a demand side, profiling cord cutters and identifying which streaming apps are having the most impact.

Key Findings

• US cord            in            2018 totalled one million,                       million lost from satellite,            million            cable and            million from telco
• Compared to            satellite has lost            of its            base, telco            and cable           
           of US cord cutters in            2018 were Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) users
• A blended            of streaming services is becoming            to make pay-TV subscribers switch:            cord cutters have more than            SVOD subscription
           cord cutters had an average age of            while cord shavers had an average age of           
• Amazon Prime            had the highest rate of            cord cutting –            - and            shaving –            - among SVOD           
• Hulu had            second highest cord cutting rates                       - but only the seventh            cord shaving rate –           
           of            cord cutters were binge watchers, illustrating the impact streaming behaviour has when it becomes embedded            Netflix users were cord cutters in            2018 
• Cord cutters            more than three as likely            overall consumers to stream sports            free
• Fans of            originals over index for cord            for example            of Man in            High Castle fans were cord            in            compared to            of Game            Thrones fans

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Altice, Amazon Prime Video, AT&T, Atlantic Broadband, Cable ONE, Cablevision, CBS All Access, Charter Communications, Comcast, DirecTV, DISH Network, Frontier, HBO Now, Hulu, Mediacom, Netflix, Sling, Suddenlink, U-verse, Verizon Fios, YouTube