Roku find US cord-cutting at a high

Almost a third of US households no longer have a traditional pay TV subscription, as viewers continue to turn to digital and streaming alternatives.

A new study from set-top box company Roku has found that the phenomenon of cord-cutting has reached an all-time high in the US, with about 32% of households doing away with pay TV subscriptions via cable or satellite.

Cord-cutting refers to the pattern of viewers cancelling their subscriptions to multichannel subscription TV services available over cable or satellite, dropping pay TV channels or reducing the number of hours of subscription TV viewed in response to competition from rival media available over the internet.

The study also found that 25% of viewers in the US have reduced their cable subscriptions, with a further 45% likely to cut the cord fully within the next six months.

The vast majority of cord-cutter households said they were satisfied with their decision and wish they had cut their traditional pay TV service earlier. When asked about factors driving the shift to full-time streaming, cutting home entertainment expenses was cited as the primary reason.

Only 17% of recent cord-cutter households said they would re-subscribe to traditional pay TV when live sports returns this year, while 31% said they are likely to subscribe to a live sports streaming service.

The study found that nearly half of all US households say they stream more free ad-supported TV amid the pandemic.

Additionally, 40% of recent cord-cutter households said that access to free trials and extended free trials to premium subscription services helped convince them to cut traditional pay TV service.

The Roku study also revealed that users who cut the cord on pay TV saved an estimated US$75 each month.