Report: There Will be 22.6 Million Cord Cutters By 2018 A new report indicates that the rate of cord cutting is occurring at a faster rate than previously believed. A new report by eMarketer notes that ad investment will expand just 0.5% to $71.65 billion this year, down notably from the $72.72 billion predicted in the company's original first quarter forecast for 2017. That sinking ad spending is thanks to the growing rate of cord cutting in the United States, as more and more streaming alternatives arrive on the market. It's a trend the overall industry spent years either ignoring or downplaying in the hopes it would simply go away.

It's not. At this rate, the report predicts that 22.2 million U.S. adults will have cut the cord on cable, satellite or telco TV service by the end 2017 -- up 33% over 2016. "eMarketer expected a slowdown this year in TV ad sales, after 2016 benefited from both the Olympics and US presidential election,” said Monica Peart, eMarketer’s senior forecasting director. “However, traditional TV advertising is slowing even more than expected, as viewers switch their time and attention to the growing list of live streaming and over-the-top [OTT] platforms." This year, there will be 22.2 million cord-cutters ages 18 and older, a figure up 33.2% over 2016. That's notably higher than the 15.4 million eMarketer previously estimated. The total number of US adult cord-nevers (users that have never signed up for a traditional cable TV connection) will grow 5.8% this year to 34.4 million. “Younger audiences continue to switch to either exclusively watching OTT video or watching them in combination with free TV options,” said Chris Bendtsen, senior forecasting analyst at eMarketer. “Last year, even the Olympics and presidential elections could not prevent younger audiences from abandoning pay TV.” Note that eMarketer's numbers don't include streaming options from the likes of Dish (Sling TV) or AT&T (DirecTV Now), though so far gains in subscribers for these services haven't offset the decline in traditional cable TV subscribers anyway. Note that eMarketer's numbers don't include streaming options from the likes of Dish (Sling TV) or AT&T (DirecTV Now), though so far gains in subscribers for these services haven't offset the decline in traditional cable TV subscribers anyway.







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Most recommended from 73 comments



n2jtx

join:2001-01-13

Glen Head, NY 20 recommendations n2jtx Member Under 18 My niece is 11 and does not watch TV. She has told me her friends don't either. They play video games and use free streaming options such as YouTube. If her generation is the future and I was a broadcaster or cable TV provider, I would start getting nervous. The apocalypse is 10 years or so out.

TIGERON

join:2008-03-11

Boston, MA 9 recommendations TIGERON Member Love it Cut the cord March 2015 and have never looked back. adam1991

join:2012-06-16

united state 8 recommendations adam1991 Member Do the math 22 million, times $7/month, is an additional $154 million/month that Disney will NOT get for ESPN.



Yearly, that's a billion eight.



A subscriber here, a subscriber there, next thing you know you're talking real money.

tshirt

Premium Member

join:2004-07-11

Snohomish, WA 4 recommendations tshirt Premium Member Up until the last couple decades cable here was RARE then people saw it as necessity, and now are seeing it as NOT a utility.

as an ISP, once they reach 99.9% I'd expect 20% 30% to recognize, it is NOT a necessity or a utility.

Already a notiable percentage are 100% wireless (cell and free Wi-Fi) on a decent phone which are fully capable computing devices despite the small screen/keyboard, better voice interface helps.

cralt

join:2011-01-07

CT 4 recommendations cralt Member RIAA People are starting to think of video like they think of music. It should be free or at least very cheap and easy to get. On demand.



These big company's are fighting the same fight the RIAA and record stores fought a decade ago. Will end up the same way.