19 Cord Cutting Statistics and Trends in 2024 [The Dusk Of TV is Here]

Will the era of traditional TV come to an end in the near future?

This is one of the questions many people would like to know the answer to, as over-the-top markets are booming right now. With that in mind, we decided to explore the most essential cord-cutting statistics and try to answer this burning question.

Before we actually dive into the topic’s most interesting details, we’d like to take a glance at the three main types of viewers: cord-cutters, cord-trimmers, and cord-nevers.

Cord-cutters are viewers who decided to cancel or “cut the cord” on their cable or satellite subscriptions in favor of less expensive or free video platforms.

Next, we have cord-trimmers who’ve cut their TV subscription expenses by trimming their TV packages and opting for skinnier TV bundles.

Lastly, we have cord-nevers. This type of viewer has never paid for cable or satellite subscriptions.

Latest Cord Cutting Statistics

Here's an overview of cord-cutting statistics:

• 95.1 million people will cut the cord in the US by 2023, which is 35.9% of the US population.
• There will be 80.7 million cord-cutting US households by 2026.
• 56% of Americans watch cable or satellite TV.
• In the Q3 of 2022, Pay-TV lost about 785,000 subscribers, up from a net loss of 650,000 in Q3 of 2021.
• 112.9 million consumers or 41.6% of the US population will cut the cord by 2026.
• Save up to $70 a month by cutting cable TV.
• By 2030, it is expected that the prevalence of cable and satellite TV would have decreased by 7%.
• Nearly all Americans aged 25-34 access TV content through the internet.
• Comcast had 16.6 million pay TV subscribers by Q3 of 2022, down by 1 million from Q1 2022.
• 90% of young people prefer this method.
• Among the younger segment of viewers, those aged 18-24, the percentage is similar: 87% opt for internet access.
• As of February 2022, Netflix has $40 Billion in subscribers.

Now, that we went through the basics, let’s jump to some of the most interesting cord-cutting facts.

Impressive Cord-Cutting Statistics for 2023

Cable cord-cutting statistics in 2023 show that cable and satellite subscriptions are plummeting. Major cable providers like AT&T are losing customers at an alarming rate, as streaming services like Hulu and Disney Plus seem to be taking over.

Let’s discuss this phenomenon.

1. 95.1 million people in the United States will cut the cord by 2023, up from 87 million by 2022.

(Source: eMarketer)

By 2024, 101.5 million people are projected to become cord-cutters. By 2026, there will be 112.9 million cord-cutting US consumers, which is 41.6% of the US population.

US Cord-Cutters, 2022-2026

2. Over 80 million US households will not have TV subscriptions by 2026.

Pay TV and Non-TV US households 2018-2026

3. Almost 56% of Americans watch cable or satellite TV.

(Source: Pewresearch)

A recent survey revealed that 71% of those who don’t watch TV via cable or satellite say they have no need for it because they can find the content they want to watch online. Another 69% stated that cable and satellite subscriptions cost too much, and 45% said they don’t watch TV very often in general.

Streaming vs Cable Statistics

4. Streaming logged at 34.8% of time spent, compared with 34.4% for cable and 21.6% on traditional network television.

(Source: Barrons)

An incredible 22.6% spike in hours spent streaming services such as Netflix, Google’s YouTube, and Warner Bros Discovery's HBO Max occurred from last year while broadcast viewing dropped 9.8%, followed suit by an 8.9% decline in viewers for cable networks yearly too!

5. With 4.1 million subscribers, Hulu with Live TV is the most common cable TV replacement.

(Source: Comparitech)

Many people using traditional paid TV providers are now turning to live-streaming TV services as a replacement.  Other competitors such as Sling TV and FuboTV only amount to 2.25 million and 1.06 million members respectively at the end of March; showing that Hulu is far ahead in terms of subscriber count!

6. Contrastingly, Disney Plus gained 54.5 million customers less than 6 months after launching.

(Source: VARIETY)

Despite widespread pay-TV cord-cutting, large media companies like Disney Plus have launched streaming services that have proven to be hugely popular. In fact, Disney Plus managed to gain 54.4 million customers less than 6 months after launching. This perhaps goes to show why cord-cutting in 2021 is so rife.

7. The number of paid US TV subscriptions has dropped by 2.7 million in the last few years.

(Source: FAST COMPANY)

This cable TV decline has become more visible when all major cable companies, media giants, and satellite providers published their fourth-quarter earnings. It’s clear that internet TV is winning.

8. By 2026, paid TV services will account for less than 50% of all US TV households.

(Source: Business Wire)

AT&T has lost the most customers, but cord-cutting stats show that other companies like DirecTV and U-Verse also lost 1.16 million customers in the same quarter. Around the world, paid TV losses to equal .46% of the total subscribers. In 2010, paid TV had its highest number of users at 105 million. By 2027, estimates expect users to drop to 60 million. 

9.  Netflix has close to 222 million subscribers in 2022.

(Source: Earth Web)

The subscriber count is impressive, right? Even so, estimates show that 53% of the people who watch Netflix don’t pay for it. They use someone else’s account. 

General Cord-Cutting Stats

Now that you know the latest data, let's dive deeper.

10. AT&T lost a striking 1.16 million customers.

(Source: Variety)

Cable TV subscriber trends tell us that in Q4 of last year, AT&T lost 1.16 million TV accounts in that period. However, it’s not just AT&T that should be worried. Comcast and Charter also have some worrying figures, with losses of -149,000 and -101,000 respectively.

11. Comcast, the biggest cable provider, has 22.1 million subscribers.

(Source: Statista)

A chart from Statista displays four major cable providers with Comcast leading the pack with the highest number of subscribers at 22.1 million. With Comcast alone enjoying 22.1 million subscribers, then how many cable subscribers are there in the US?

Let’s take a look at other cable providers.

Another major cable TV supplier is Charter with 16.7 million subscribers. Cox has approximately 4.1 million paying users, while Altice’s share counts 3.4 million subscribers. Taking into account only these four major cable TV providers, there are 46.3 million cable subscribers in the US.

We should also add satellite TV providers to the equation. DirecTV has a large share of the pie, with 20 million viewers, while DISH comes in second with 10.7 million subscribers. Lastly, the latest cord-cutting stats show that IPTV providers, Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse, recorded 4.6 million and 3.7 million users, respectively.

At this point, legacy pay-TV providers together have 85.3 million subscribers.

Apart from these TV services, we also have internet-delivered TV services. DirecTV Now and Sling TV are the largest multichannel players in this sector. Last year, DirecTV Now had 1.8 million subscribers, whereas Sling TV’s audience was somewhat bigger at 2.3 million users.

12. In the third quarter of 2022, Pay-TV lost about 785,000 subscribers.

(Source: Leichtman Research)

The top pay-TV providers now account for about 71.4 million subscribers, with the top seven cable companies having 38.6 million video subscribers, other traditional pay-TV services having 24.8 million subscribers and the top publicly reporting Internet-delivered (vMVPD) pay-TV services having over 8 million subscribers.

13. Cable and satellite TV penetration are likely to fall by 26% by 2030.

(Source: PR Newswire/)

In 2017, a research and advisory company, the Diffusion Group, made a prediction about the future of pay-TV providers. Considering the rise of virtual multichannel video programming distributors, the Diffusion Group believes that by the end of 2030, the percentage of U/S households with traditional pay-TV services will drop from 81% it had in 2017 to 60%. That’s a 26% decline, and if this prediction holds true, cable TV subscribers' statistics are bound to change drastically.

14. Over 70% of people without traditional paid TV in 2022 say that the Web offers what they want. 

(Source: Pew Research Center)

With more people spending most of their time online, they no longer find the need for television subscriptions. 71% of the percentage of people currently without the service cite video content available on the internet as their top reason. 

15. $70 of potential savings by cutting cable TV.

(Source:Cnet)

Consider how much home broadband costs without a TV bundle. If the bundle is $130 and internet only is $60, cutting cable TV may save up to $70 a month.

16. There are 61% of the 18 - 29 age group are the majority of cord-cutters.

(Source: Pew Research)

When looking at cable and satellite TV subscriptions by age group, U.S. adults aged 65 and up have the highest subscription rate of 81%, the highest of any age demographic. This percentage is significantly higher than the 56% of all U.S. adults who receive their TV this way. Interestingly, this same age group has seen the least amount of change in subscription numbers from 2015 to 2022.

On the other hand, adults ages 18 through 29 have the lowest subscription rate, with only 34% having subscribed to satellite or cable services. This number has remained relatively steady over years as well, suggesting that this group may be less interested in traditional television viewing methods compared to other age groups.

17. 39% of people without cable or satellite TV say they’ve never subscribed for it. 

(Source: Pew Research)

Almost 40% of people without traditional TV have never subscribed to it in the first place. 

69% say that traditional TV service is too expensive, while 45% rarely watch television.57% of those aged 18-29 cite high costs as the most significant reason they won’t go the cable route. The percentage is even higher with those older - 72% of  30 to 29-year-olds and 77% of those over 50 years share the same sentiment. 

18. The number of SVoD subscribers in the US will reach 208 million by 2023.

(Source: eMarketer)

Cord-cutters favourite subscription video-on-demand service provider is Netflix. A 2018 study from eMarketer showed that 64.5% of US digital video viewers watch Netflix at least once per month.

Other research shows that Netflix ranks second among SVoD services with 171.6 million worldwide viewers in 2020. First place went to Google’s YouTube. In 2018, it had approximately 192 million viewers - and that's only in the US!

Other video service providers with a considerably high number of US viewers include Amazon (88.7 million) and Hulu (55 million). Like Netflix, these services provide quality programming so that audiences from every age bracket can find something to watch. It is no wonder that predictions show great promise for these services in an era when more people are cutting the cord.

19. AT&T digital plans to sell a 30% share to TPG.

(Source: The Motley Fool)

Cord-cutting stats show that the company is severing 30% of its spin-off TV to TPG, a private equity firm. Hopefully, that will inject some money that it so desperately needs after thousands of cancellations. It will still retain ¾ of its new business, which will be worth about $16 billion.

20. 41% of sports lovers used social media and other streaming services to watch live matches in 2022.

(Source: Media Play News)

In 2022, 41% of people that watch live tournaments aren’t doing so using traditional TV. They’re watching games via ad-supported streaming online. Surprisingly, those who still use traditional TV say that watching live sports is the only reason they still subscribe. 

Conclusion

One of the many conclusions we can draw from all this data is that traditional pay TV is on shaky ground, with all the OTT video service providers out there making quite the waves. The high fees of TV packages are boosting the growth of cord-cutting, and to lower their losses, cable and satellite TV providers will have to step up their game.

All in all, that was all we’ve prepared for you in today’s edition of cord-cutting statistics.

What’s your opinion on the cord-cutting trend? Let us know. We’d like to hear from you!