In recent times, we’ve talked a lot about cord cutting, subscription video and what it means in this day and age.
As we’ve said before, people no longer want to be told when and where they can enjoy their favourite films and television programmes - in 2016, people want autonomy when it comes to their visual entertainment - and they won’t waste time on services that don’t hit the mark.
Even since we initially touched on the subject, cord cutting has risen and cable TV providers are shaking in their boots. In a recent ‘Youth Video Diet’ study carried out by Defy Media, it has emerged that 36% 13 - 26 year olds can’t live without cable, whereas 67% of the same demographic can’t live without YouTube (closely followed by Netflix which came in at 51%).
Basically, a lot of sources show Generation Z and Millennials are ditching cable TV in pursuit of digital video - and as the numbers of those who plan to cut the cord increase, cable providers are being forced to find new ways to survive in an ever changing video streaming environment. Below is a Statista chart based on Nielsen research that points this out very well.
You would think that due to often rather hefty cable subscription fees, today’s youth are being driven into the arms of the cord cutting community, but that simply isn’t the case…
Young people are turning to streaming services because they simply offer the freedom of choice.
16 year old Leah, who was interviewed for Defy Media’s study, had this to say:
"For TV, you have channels but you're limited to that. On YouTube I can just look up what I'm interested in.”
So it seems that cord cutting has less to do with cash and more to do with flexible content, particularly amongst young people. While this makes a lot of sense, in some way cord cutters are likely to miss out on heaps of on thousands of free shows, movies, sporting events, news programs, and other free over-the-air content.
According to a 2015 study carried out by Digitalsmiths, 54.5% of cord cutters don’t use an antenna to watch free content over the air. Most likely, some of these people live in areas with poor over-the-air reception, while many of them likely live in areas with great over-the-air reception but are not taking advantage of what they could enjoy with an inexpensive antenna.
Lots of cord cutters aren’t aware that they can watch a host of top quality content for free, but perhaps that will change over time. Today’s world doesn’t cater for latecomers, nor does it wait around for services that don’t offer enough freedom or flexibility, but as things develop, it wouldn’t be unfathomable to think that in a few years, all of these entities could be moulded into one big interlinked content service. Or perhaps not – only time will tell.
The point is, stay on your toes, keep up with the times and with a strong backwind, the rest will fall into place.
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