30+ Revealing Cord Cutting (Streaming vs. Cable TV) Statistics & Trends (2024)

Last year, more than 6 million Americans cut the cord for numerous reasons.

In contrast, video streaming services are on the rise. Will this cutting-cord trend continue in favor of streaming?

Learn interesting cord-cutting facts & stats about:

• How many people still have a cable TV subscription
• How many people have already cut the cord
• What is the main reason for cutting the cord

And other fascinating information on cutting-cord trends.

• Cable TV subscriber numbers
• How many subscribers have cable services lost?
• What percent of people have cut the cord?
• How much money does cutting the cord save?
• How many people have cable in Canada?
• Average time Americans spend watching TV
• Is streaming more popular than cable?
• Cord-cutting demographics
• Most common reasons to cut the cord
• How much does an average US household pay for cable?

Key Cord Cutting Statistics

• 74.11 million Americans still use traditional pay TV in 2022.
• Cable TV still represents around 39% of the market share, with streaming having 26% share (as of Q2 2021)
• Each year, around 6 million Americans decide to cut the cord, with 50.2 million Americans already cutting the cord.
• Traditional pay TV providers have lost 825,000 subscribers in Q1 2022 alone.
• The average American spends 3 hours per day watching TV in 2022, with men having longer screen time than women.
• Young adults between 18 and 29 are cutting the cord the most.
• US household pays $116 on average for cable TV.

How Many People Have Cable? / Cable TV subscriber numbers

Approximately 40,485,721 people in the US have cable as of Q1 2022.

Around 26,222,000 Americans use other traditional TV services like satellite, whereas 7,408,245 are subscribed to IPTV services.

• That makes a total of 74,115,966 pay-TV subscribers in the US.

60% of American households were still using traditional pay-TV in 2021.

In 2010, 91% (or 105 million) of households in the US used traditional pay TV.

It’s expected to drop down to 50% by 2026.

(Digital TV News)

The number of US pay-TV subscribers, based on platform.

How Many Subscribers Have Cable Services Lost?

55.1 million Americans have already cut the cord.

US cable TV lost many subscribers in the last few years. Around 6 million subscribers per year.

Pay-TV uses are expected to drop from around 100 million before 2014 to 72.7 million by 2023.

On the other hand, non-pay TV users will increase from around 20 million before 2014 to 56.1 million by 2023.

76% of US adults watched cable or satellite TV in 2015, whereas 24% didn’t.

In 2021, the percentage of cable and satellite subscriptions dropped to 56%, with 44% either not watching TV or using other sources.

Out of those who currently don’t have a pay-TV subscription, 61% had it sometime in the past, whereas 39% were never subscribed.

(PRC)

How many subscribers overall have cable services lost over the last years?

From 2019 to 2021, the US cable lost 6 million pay-TV subscribers each year.

It’s estimated that by 2027, 12 million additional people will unsubscribe from traditional pay TV services.

(Digital TV News)

Popular US cable TV providers’ subscriber numbers

COMCAST

VERIZON

CHARTER

DIRECTV

DISH TV

How many subscribers did cable services lose last quarter?

Most popular US cable providers lost 785,000 pay-TV subscribers in Q3 2022.

In Q2 2022, top cable providers lost staggering 1,925,000 subscribers.

What Percent of People Have Cut the Cord?

Around 27% of Americans have cut the cord by 2021.

17% of Americans never used pay-TV services.

(PRC)

Around 72.86 million households are estimated to be pay-TV-free by 2027.

In 2010, only 11.34 million households didn’t have a pay-TV subscription.

(Digital TV News)

But another market is gaining users; check the VoIP Market, Industry, Users.

How much money does cutting the cord really save?

Depending on your plan, you can save up to $70 by cutting away the TV bundle.

(CNET)

Of course, the potential savings decrease with the number of streaming service subscriptions. Since streaming platforms provide their own original content, you’re likely to pay for more than one service.

Also, streaming services are getting pricier.

(Current)

At the end of the day, it’s all about having control over what content to watch and when not necessarily about saving money.

(Wired)

How Many People Have Cable in Canada?

7.9 million Canadians were subscribed to pay TV in 2021.

That represents 51.3% of households.

That’s down from 8.3 million in 2020 (or 55.3% of households), and 8.7 million in 2019 (or 59% of households).

It’s estimated that by the end of 2022, there will remain 7.7 million pay-TV users (or 48.9% of households) in Canada.

How many people are cord-cutting in Canada?

Around 305,000 Canadians cut the cord in 2021.

520,000 Canadians had already cut the cord by 2020 or were never even subscribed.

By 2019, 420,000 Canadians had cut the cord or were never subscribed.

Average Amount of Time an American Spends Watching TV

The average American adult spends 3 hours per day watching TV in 2022.

(Statista 2)

Children are also watching TV for 3 hours per day on average.

The highest number of hours spent watching TV was 7 hours per day, according to 2020 data.

UK watchers spent 5 hours and 40 minutes watching TV on average.

The survey was conducted during coronavirus lockdowns, which could affect screen time.

(ICSID)

Find out how many people watch Anime.

In 2021, an average American spent 2.86 hours per day watching TV on average.

The elder demographic (above 65 years) spent the most time watching TV, averaging 4.5 hours per day.

Men spend more time watching TV than women, averaging 2.7 hours on weekdays, and 3.83 hours on weekends.

On the other hand, women spend 2.44 hours on weekdays and 3.29 hours on weekends.

West Virginians spend 3.82 hours in front of the TV per day, which is the most in the US.

Alaskans spend the least time watching TV, averaging 1.85 hours per day.

Find more data on screen time:

• General screen time stats
• Teen and kids average screen time

Do More People Have Netflix or Cable?

As of Q3 2022, Netflix has 73.39 million users in US and Canada, whereas there are 71.4 million cable TV users in the US alone.

But the trend is showing that in a couple of years, pay TV will be less common than video streaming.

Netflix has:

• 73.53 million users in Europe
• 39.94 million users in Latin America
• 36.23 million users in the Asia Pacific

(Statista 3)

An average person who only uses Netflix has spared himself 58 hours of watching ads.

An hour on a typical network channel consists of 18 minutes of advertisement.

(HotDog)

Is streaming more popular than cable?

Around 30% of TV watchers in the US were still using cable in January 2023.

Streaming holds a first place at 38.1%. Broadcasting is third at 24.9%, with the remaining 6.6% from other sources.

Related: HBO Max is also gaining subscribers

More than 83% of US households pay for at least one streaming service in 2022.

In 2020, the percentage was 55%. In 2018, it was 43%, which is up from 20% in 2015.

At least 67% of households are subscribed to Netflix. In 33% of cases, one Netflix subscription is used in more than one household.

In 2020, 78% of households were subscribed to Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu. That’s up from 69% in 2018 and 52% in 2015.

(Deadline) (LRG 2)

Cord-cutting demographics: Who’s cutting the cord the most? What age groups are using alternatives like streaming?

Going from 65% in 2015 to 34% in 2021, young adults aged 18-29 are cutting the cord the most.

Followed by the 30-49 age group, which reduced their pay-TV subscription numbers by 27%.

Young US adults aged 18-29 are the likeliest to use video streaming services.

61% of them have never subscribed to pay-TV services. On the other hand, 91% of them claim they find all the content they like online.

Most Common Reasons Why People Cut the Cable?

More than 31% of people’s main reason to cut the cord is price.

That is followed by not using the cable TV enough to justify the price at 8.03%.

With 19.50%, the main reason against cutting the cord is watching live sports.

How Much Does an Average American Household Pay for Cable?

American household spends $116 on average for cable TV per month.

That’s $1,392 per year (or $1,141 when averaging all US households).

On average, paying for pay-TV/internet bundles represents 2% of total consumer yearly income.

The total US market spends $147 billion per year on pay-TV subscriptions.

(Business Wire)

The cost for pay-TV in the US ranges from $45 to $130, depending on the provider. The average price is $64.

On the other hand, US consumers spend $47 on average for video streaming services (as of December 2020).

(ICSID)

Pay TV had the highest revenue of $101 billion in 2014.

However, it’s estimated that between 2014 and 2027, the revenue will drop to $53 billion, which is $48 billion less.

71% of Americans who aren’t using pay TV claim they find all the content they like online.

69% claim cable and satellite TV are too expensive, whereas 45% simply don’t watch TV.

(PRC)

Read more:

• Music streaming statistics

Conclusion

These were the latest cord-cutting statistics. Despite worldwide lockdowns that forced people to stay at home, cable TV services are slowly but steadily losing subscribers.

The cord-cutters either don’t have time to watch TV or find all the video content they want on different streaming services.

Have you cut the cord as well, or are you planning to? Have you saved money by cutting the cord? What alternative did you find?

Please let us know in the comments.

Sources: LRG, LRG 2, Digital TV News, Digital TV News 2, Axios, PRC, eMarketer, eMarketer 2, CNET, Current, Wired, CRG, Statista, Statista 2, Statista 3, ICSID, BLS, BLS 2, US News, HotDog, Nielsen, Netflix Report 2022, Deadline, Cable TV, Business Wire, CMCSA, Verizon, Fierce Video, Fierce Video 2, Fierce Video 3, Fierce Video 4, Fierce Video 5, Light Reading, Hollywood Reporter, Dish

LRG 3, Major Pay-TV Providers Lost About 785,000 Subscribers in 3Q 2022. Published Nov 14, 2022. Accessed Feb 21, 2023.

LRG 4, Major Pay-TV Providers Lost About 1,925,000 Subscribers in 2Q 2022. Published Aug 12, 2022. Accessed Feb 21, 2023.

Nielsen 2, High-demand sports and streaming content fuel a rise in total TV usage in January. Published Feb 2023. Accessed Feb 21, 2023.