Third of US consumers ‘thinking of making’ pay TV changes

Almost a third of US consumers – more than 70 million people – are thinking of making changes to their paid TV service, according to a new GfK MRI report.

The Cord Evolution study claims that there are twice as many pay TV ‘defectors’ – those who have reduced their paid TV service or are thinking of doing so – compared to ‘desirers’ who are generally loyal to traditional paid TV and/or are thinking of adding services.

Overall GfK found that there were almost 50 million people (21% of the US population) that could be branded ‘defectors’, compared to about 22 million people (9% of the population) that fell into the ‘desirers’ category.

“Today’s TV landscape has transformed into one big ‘trade-off’ ecosystem. Unless you are willing to pay for it all, you have to choose which services are within budget, and take which shows you get with them, sacrificing others in return,” said Christie Kawada, executive vice-president of product management and innovation at GfK MRI.

“Unless you are willing to pay for it all, you have to choose which services are within budget, and take which shows you get with them, sacrificing others in return. The good news for content providers is that content still drives most viewing behaviour; so regardless of where content is offered, viewers will find a way to get it.”