The numbers are in from the Convergence Report showing streaming is here to stay. Up to 72 percent of all U.S. households are expected to become cord cutters by 2025. This is far faster than many had expected just a few years ago.
According to sources, “Net-net traditional TV access [from a pay TV subscription is well into becoming a niche product (even if we included vMVPDs in our TTV numbers).”
Dubbed “The Battle for the North American Couch Potato: OTT and TV”, the report crunched the numbers on over 80 OTT providers including Netflix, Disney, Hulu, Warners Bros Discovery, and Amazon.
“Based on that data, it concluded that 2022 U.S. OTT access revenue grew 26 percent to $49.6 billion and forecasts 21 percent growth in 2023. But that growth will significantly slow to 13 percent in 2025.”
The report provides an educated guesstimate that online advertising for both broadcasting and cable TV networks would reach 23 percent in revenue by 2025.
Numbers have been dropping for years as more people bounce from cable contracts to streaming subscriptions. Last year, cable networks saw subscriber losses of 11 percent, and the Convergence Report stated there were 70 million homes without a cable, satellite, or telco TV access provider. That’s approximately 53 percent of all U.S. households. Coach Potato estimates the number will jump up to 75 percent by the end of 2025.
The Coach Potato report estimates subscriber loss to be 14 percent this year and reach 16 percent by 2025. In 2022, the decline totaled 7.37 million subscribers, and this year the number is expected to reach 8.24 million. Between 2022 and 2028, an estimated 70 percent of TV subscribers will cut the cord, depleting revenue by 60 percent or more each year as households that sever ties will double.
This doesn’t necessarily mean everyone cutting the cord is signing up for alternate entertainment sources. Some could be purging programming from their systems and may not sign up for any streaming services. Subscription numbers for almost every streaming platform are going up every year, and are likely to continue this trend for years to come.