Cable, satellite and telecom television providers will take a massive hit due to the enticing affordability of streaming alternatives, new data from eMarketer shows.
According to the researcher, by the end of this year, 31.2 million US households will have cut the cable television cord. Another 6.6 million households will cancel their traditional pay television subscription.
By 2024, eMarketer anticipates more than one-third (35.4 percent) of US households will have cut the pay television cord, leaving fewer than half of US households with a pay television service.
Coupled with the high prices of cable television, the loss of live sports in the first half of 2020 contributed to the declines. This leaves 77.6 million US households with cable, satellite or telecom television packages, a 7.5 percent decrease year-over-year and a 22.8 percent drop since pay television’s peak in 2014.
“As pay TV subscriber losses accumulate, cable providers have been focusing on their internet services, which are more profitable and have benefited from the consumer shift to streaming video,” said Eric Haggstrom, eMarketer forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence.
The state of pay television comes at a time when traditional television ad revenues have plummeted due to the pandemic. Total ad spend on traditional television will decline by 15 percent this year to $60 billion, the lowest the industry has seen since 2011, according to the researcher.
Meanwhile, consumers have shown an increased interest in connected television (CTV). New data from DoubleVerify revealed a surge in content consumption driven by more time spent using CTV devices. Nearly half (44 percent) of consumers say they’re using CTV devices more since the pandemic began, while 21 percent expect to watch more television after the pandemic.
