23 Incredible Cord Cutting Statistics [2023]: Why Americans Are Moving Away From Cable - Zippia (2024)

Research Summary. Online TV streaming services have taken the world by storm, and more and more people are cutting the cord and canceling their traditional cable and satellite TV subscriptions. Here are some statistics on cord-cutting.

• An estimated 5.2 million households intended to end their cable subscriptions by the end of 2021.

• An estimated 4.9 million people will cut the cord in 2022.

• Cable providers lost approximately 25 million subscribers since 2012.

• Adults ages 18 through 29 are the largest age group without cable, with 34% of them not having subscriptions to satellite or cable TV services.

• It’s predicted there will be a 7% decrease in cable and satellite TV penetration rates by 2030.

• U.S. streaming service revenues have increased by 340% from 2015 to 2020.

For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Demographics | Projections | Cable Industry | Streaming Services

General Cord Cutting Statistics

• 56% of Americans say they watch cable or satellite TV, according to a 2021 survey.

  This is down from the 76% who said the same thing in 2015.

  Of those who don’t watch TV via cable or satellite, 71% say they don’t need it because they can find the content they want to watch online. 69% say cable and satellite subscriptions simply cost too much, and 45% say they don’t watch TV very often in general.

• 27% of U.S. households intended to cut the cord by the end of 2021.

  In comparison, 15% of U.S. households canceled their satellite and cable TV subscriptions in 2020, nearly half the cancellation rate of 2021.

• In 2021, pay-TV providers lost 4.7 million subscribers.

  Here is the breakdown for the number of pay-TV subscribers lost each year from 2014 to 2021:

  Number of Pay-TV Subscribers Lost

  Year	Number of Subscribers Lost
  2021	4.7 million
  2020	5.1 million
  2019	4.9 million
  2018	2.9 million
  2017	1.5 million
  2016	0.8 million
  2015	0.4 million
  2014	0.1 million

Cord Cutting Statistics by Demographics

• U.S. adults age 65 and up have the largest share of cable and satellite TV subscribers.

  81% of this age group receive TV via cable or satellite, the highest of any age demographic and higher than the 56% of all U.S. adults who receive their TV this way. This demographic has also seen the least change in percentage from 2015 to 2021.

  The breakdown of other age demographics is as follows:

  Percent of Who Receives Cable or Satellite TV By Age Group

  Age Group	Receive Cable or Satellite TV (2015)	Receive Cable or Satellite TV (2021)	Change (%)
  18-29	65%	34%	-31%
  30-49	73%	46%	-27%
  50-64	80%	66%	-14%
  65+	86%	81%	-5%

• The 18-to-29-year-old age demographic has the highest percentage of adults who have never subscribed to cable or satellite TV.

  44% of all adults have never had a cable or satellite TV subscription, and 61% of these are between the ages of 18 and 29.

  This is generally the age group who would be beginning to live on their own and be responsible for their own subscriptions during the time that streaming platforms were well established, so it makes sense that they’d forgo traditional cable or satellite when 91% of them say they can find the content they want to watch online.

• 77% of the U.S. adults over the age of 50 who have cut the cord say they did so because the cost of cable or satellite service is too expensive.

  In comparison, 72% of adults ages 30-49 and 57% of 18-29 say the same.

Cord-Cutting Statistics By Projections

• It’s estimated that a total of 4.9 million people will cut the cord in 2022, bringing the total number of cord-cutters up to 55.1 million (or 20.8% of the U.S.’s adult population).

• Approximately 10.3% of current cable and satellite TV subscribers will cut the cord in 2022.

• It’s expected that the number of cable TV subscribers is expected to fall from 71 million people in 2020 to 56 million in 2025.

• Streaming service industry revenue hit around $171 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $252 billion in 2025, nearly doubling in four years.

• U.S. households’ cable and satellite TV penetration rate is expected to decline from 85% in 2017 to 79% in 2030.

• The global streaming services industry is expected to have a CAGR of 21% from 2021 to 2028.

  See Also

  Unavailable In Your RegionHow to Watch Local Channels on Roku | CordCutting.comDo Smart TVs Have Built-in Antennas: What You Should KnowHow to Watch Local Channels on Fire TV in 2024 | CordCutting.com

Cord Cutting Statistics By the Cable Industry

• Comcast is the top cable TV provider with 18.99 million subscribers.

  AT&T Premium TV comes next with 16.51 million subscribers, followed by Charter Spectrum and Dish Network with 15.64 million and 8.82 million subscribers, respectively.

• There are about 71 million cable TV subscribers in the U.S. as of December 2020.

  No provider has more than 20 million subscribers, and this number is expected to continue to fall.

• As of 2018, consumers are paying an average of $92 per month for cable TV.

  It’s estimated that cord-cutters often save an average of $85 a month by giving up their cable TV subscriptions.

Cord Cutting Statistics and Streaming Services

• In 2020, U.S. video streaming apps earned $24.1 billion in revenue.

  This was about a 340% increase from 2015, when streaming apps earned just $7.1 billion.

• Disney+ is the fastest-growing streaming service.

  Disney+ launched in November 2019 and has gained over 100 million subscribers since then.

• Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, and Hulu are the five largest video streaming apps.

  These are followed by Peaco*ck, YouTube Premium, and HBO Max. Here are their subscriber counts:

  Streaming App	Number of Subscribers
  Netflix	75 million
  Prime Video	50 million
  Disney+	45 million
  Apple TV+	40 million
  Hulu	35 million
  Peaco*ck	15 million
  YouTube Premium	15 million
  HBO Max	8.5 million
  ESPN+	8.5 million
  CBS All Access	4.5 million

• 39% of those who don’t have a satellite or cable TV subscription have never had one in the past either.

  This means that over one-third of so-called cord-cutters have never actually used said cord in the first place. This demographic makes up 17% of all U.S. adults, and 27% are actual cord-cutters who have canceled their satellite and cable subscriptions.

• 78% of U.S. households have a subscription to Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu.

  55% of these households subscribe to more than one of these three platforms as of 2020, up from 43% in 2018 and 20% in 2015.

Cord-Cutting Statistics FAQ

1. Is cable TV losing subscribers?

   Yes, cable TV is losing subscribers. In 2020, there were about 71 million subscribers to cable TV platforms, and this is expected to fall to 56 million by 2025.

   In 2021, just 56% of Americans watched cable or satellite TV, and 27% of U.S. households intended to cancel their cable and satellite subscriptions by the end of the year. In contrast, 76% of Americans said they watched cable or satellite TV in 2015, and just 15% said they intended to cancel their subscriptions in 2020.

   Not only is cable TV actively losing subscribers, but it also isn’t gaining young new subscribers who are moving out on their own and separating from their parents’ subscriptions.

   These young adults are choosing not to pay for cable or satellite TV in the first place. 44% of U.S. adults have never had a cable or satellite TV subscription, and 61% of them are between 18 and 29 years old.

2. How many people cut the cord every year?

   Since 2019, about 5 million people have cut the cord every year. In 2019, 4.9 million people canceled their pay-TV subscriptions, and in 2020, 5.1 million did the same. It’s estimated that another 5.1 million will cut the cord in 2021 and 4.9 million in 2022.

   These numbers have grown significantly over the years, with 797,000 cutting the cord in 2016, 1.5 million in 2017, and 2.9 million in 2018.

   Even those who aren’t cutting the cord aren’t necessarily only watching cable and satellite TV content, as 78% of U.S. households have a subscription to Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu whether they have a cable subscription or not.

3. Is the cable industry dying?

   Yes, the cable industry is dying. Unless cable company executives can develop a new strategy, the industry will likely continue to slowly decline.

   From 2020 to 2025, the number of cable TV subscribers is expected to fall from 71 million to 56 million, and in 2030, the cable and satellite TV penetration rate in the U.S. is expected to hit 79%. This is down seven percentage points from 2017’s penetration rate of 85%.

   At the same time, the streaming services industry is expected to see its revenues nearly double from 2021 to 2025, giving the cable industry an increasingly fierce competitor to overcome.

4. Are streaming services more popular than cable?

   Yes, streaming services are more popular than cable. 56% of Americans say they watch cable or satellite TV, while 78% of U.S. households have subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney+.

   See Also

   9 Best Streaming Services With Local Channels

   These two statistics aren’t mutually exclusive, but they show that more people have streaming services than cable or satellite TV subscriptions.

   This is especially true with young people between 18 and 29, as just 34% of this age group has cable or satellite TV subscriptions, compared to the 81% of the 65-and-up demographic.

Conclusion

While the cable and satellite TV industry is still very present, online TV streaming platforms are quickly overshadowing it. In 2021 alone, 27% of U.S. households intended to cut the cord and cancel their cable and satellite TV subscriptions, and this rate is growing quickly, as just 15% did the same in 2020.

Even those keeping their cords intact are subscribing to streaming services, with 78% of U.S. households subscribing to Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu and 55% subscribing to more than one. In comparison, 56% of Americans watch cable or satellite TV.

Some of the most common reasons for cutting the cord or not subscribing to cable or satellite TV in the first place are that viewers can find everything they want to watch on online streaming platforms (71%) and that cable and satellite TV costs too much (69%).

References

1. Pew Research Center. “Cable and Satellite TV Use Has Dropped Dramatically in the U.S. Since 2015.” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

2. Forbes. “Cord-Cutting To Accelerate in 2021, with 27% of Cable Households Disconnecting.” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

3. Finances Online. “Number of U.S. Households in 2022/2023: Demographics, Statistics, & Trends.” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

4. Statista. “Number of Net Subscriber Losses Among Pay TV Providers in the United States From 2014 to 2020.” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

5. Insider Intelligence. “U.S. Cord-Cutters, 2017-2022 (Millions, % Change and % of Population).” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

6. Fortune. “Why Cord Cutters Actually Are Saving a Huge Amount Over Cable Subscribers.” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

7. Statista. “Pay TV Providers Ranked by the Number of Subscribers in the United States as of December 2020.” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

8. Broadband Communities Magazine. “Streaming Is Killing Broadcast TV.” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

9. PR Newswire. “TDG: Virtual MVPDs To Disrupt Pay-TV Marketplace, Legacy Services to Lose 26% of Subscribers by 2030.” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

10. PR Newswire. “Global Video Streaming Market Is Projected To Grow with a CAGR of 21.0% During 2021-2028 | Up Market Research.” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

11. Business of Apps. “Video Streaming App Revenue and Usage Statistics (2022).” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

12. Insider. “The Best Streaming Services You Can Sign Up For in 2022.” Accessed on February 23, 2022.

13. Deadline. “More Than Half of U.S. Households Now Subscribe To Multiple Streaming Services, Study Finds.” Accessed on February 23, 2022.