A new survey has confirmed the long-running trend of Americans cutting the cord and opting for streaming services. But many feel they’re still paying too much and keep jumping ship.
All About Cookies, a website that provides tips on online privacy and identity theft prevention, surveyed 1,000 people to see how many have cut the cord on traditional TV services, and to find out what streaming services they use instead.
It turns out that traditional cable or satellite TV services – dozens of channels people don’t even watch costing hundreds of dollars annually – are used by less than half (46%) of Americans today. This includes just 27% of Gen Z viewers.
What’s more, only 14% of cord-cutters regret the switch from cable. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the grass is that much greener on the other side – 84% of surveyed people said they had canceled a streaming subscription in the past.
“Price hikes were the most common reason. The average person subscribes to 3.6 streaming services, with an average monthly cost of $58,” said All About Cookies.
Still, cord-cutters are allegedly saving roughly $25 each month, meaning they’re voting with their wallets. Indeed, why pay for a pricey cable package when you can binge-watch quality TV shows for a fraction of the price?
But not everyone is getting their money’s worth from streaming, the study reveals. Netflix is the king as 88% of its subscribers watch it weekly, for example.
But Apple TV+ is the platform with the lowest percentage of subscribers and is used least often. It’s subscribed by 18% of Americans but only 57% of those watch the streamer’s content weekly.
Perhaps realizing that it needs to find an additional way to make money, Apple TV+ is now reportedly looking to introduce an ads-based tier.
For comparison, 88% of people with a Netflix subscription say they watch a show or movie on Netflix at least once a week, the highest rate of any service.
This is not a surprise, though – Netflix, which was launched back in 2007, is the platform that introduced the idea of streaming video content to Americans in the first place. The giant has also emerged unhurt from the streaming wars of the last couple of years – other platforms are now licensing content to Netflix.
On the other hand, while streaming is definitely cheaper than cable, most Americans still think they’re paying too much – especially when streamers are regularly raising prices.
All About Cookies found that 84% of Americans have canceled a streaming subscription at some point in their lives. They gave reasons such as price increases (44%), lack of use (30%), and the platforms being too expensive (29%). 18% only signed up for the free trial anyway.
“With every major streaming service raising prices in the last year, including more planned increases from Netflix coming up, it will be interesting to see how subscriber rates change in the face of customer backlash to price hikes,” says All About Cookies.
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