Cord cutting is causing quite a stir as cable providers scramble to make up rapidly decreasing revenue as customers switch to streaming services. Part of this decline was spurred on by the 2020 pandemic, but consumers have steadily been replacing cable with streaming ever since.
One reason for this mass exodus from cable is monthly bills have increased by 52 percent in the last three years alone. Sources report the average cable bill has increased “three times the cost of inflation” from $96 to $147 per month while decreasing the number of channels included in a cable package. Essentially, consumers are paying significantly more for less content.
To put this into perspective, MNTN Research breaks down the cost comparisons between streaming services and cable providers. It estimates households don’t watch nearly as many channels as cable plans grant them access to, roughly 15 channels out of an average of 200.
“That leaves 92 percent of channels unwatched by the average American consumer, [meaning] the already-rising cost of cable TV is secretly much higher. A monthly payment of $147 to watch just 15 channels results in a true cost of $9.57 per channel – an amount that either exceeds or rivals the cost of leading streaming services.”
Over 45 percent of cable customers polled would cancel their service if internet service wasn’t also included. 54 percent of households already subscribe to some streaming service.
As MNTN Research points out, “For less than one-third of the cost of the cable TV bill, consumers could get a monthly subscription to all of the major services – and still get access to all of their favorite broadcast and cable TV shows on services like Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and HBO Max.” The total for all these subscriptions is around $59.92, significantly less than the average $147 cable package.
Additionally, the variety of available streaming services just about guarantees that customers can watch only what they want whenever they want to watch it. Platforms offer ad-supported tier plans, some of which cost consumers nothing save for watching a few advertisements to view content, something cable audiences are already very familiar with.
Are you still tied to your cable provider? Leave us a comment about why you’re sticking with cable over cheaper, streamable options.