Digitalsmiths, a TiVo owned research firm, has released the results of their 2014 4Q survey. The survey concluded that approximately 1.5 million Pay-TV subscribers plan to cancel cable, and around an additional 2.4 million subscribers plan to downgrade their service.

From the report “According to Q4 2014 survey respondents, 8.9% switched Pay-TV providers in the prior three months. Based on a year-over-year analysis this represents a 2.1% increase. Additionally, in the next six months 4.2% of respondents plan to “cut” service, 7.9% plan to “change” service, and 2.6% plan to “switch” to an online app or rental service. While some of these numbers seem minimal, they should still raise concern for Pay-TV Providers — since multiplied by millions of subscribers, the revenue threat alone is apparent.”

Another interesting statistic from the survey showed that 78.7% of respondents watch only 1 to 10 channels. This raises the question, “Why pay on average over $100 a month to watch less than 10 channels?”

The survey also showed that 43.1% of respondents watch less than 1 hour of recorded TV per day. With an average bill of $100 per month, that 1 hour a day costs them $3.34. Multiply $3.34 x 365 days for a total of $1,219.10 per year; for $726.35 they could have purchased a 1 hour HD episode on Amazon instant every day and saved money. They also on average watch 8 to 10 shows a month.

Deeper down in the survey you will find that of the 2.4 million subscribers who downgraded their service, 49.4% of them reduced the level of cable/satellite service.

38.1 million cable subscribers are “unsatisfied” with their service. 67.4% of the “unsatisfied” subscribers are unhappy with the cost of their service.

Conclusion:

Cord cutting is a quickly growing trend. As HBO and other companies launch services aimed at cord cutters, it will only become easier and more desirable for the millions of unhappy cable subscribers to cancel cable in 2015.

About Digitalsmiths: Digitalsmiths, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), provides industry-leading solutions in the area of personalized content discovery for video service providers, content providers and consumer electronics manufacturers. Digitalsmiths Seamless Discovery® enables personalized search, recommendations, social discovery, mood discovery, sports discovery, and a business console that instantly connects consumers to the most relevant movies, TV shows and live events, on any screen. Digitalsmiths Seamless Insight™ delivers the reporting and analytics necessary to optimize content discovery, deliver targeted content promotions, monitor and improve customer engagement and increase ARPU. The company is guided by the belief that consumers should not have to work to find relevant content—the content should find them. http://www.digitalsmiths.com/press/digitalsmiths-consumer-survey-and-trends-report-points-to-frustration-in-discovering-content-within-pay-tv-services/

About the numbers used here:

The numbers, such as 2.4 million subscribers planning to cancel their service, comes from 2014 3Q Pay-TV subscriber numbers of the 12 largest cable companies. http://www.digitalsmiths.com/discoveryreport-13q4-web/

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