33 million homes will cut the cord by 2018, report says

One research firm thinks the rate of cord cutting in 2018 is going to be greater than they initially expected.

A new study from eMarketer finds that as many as 33 million homes in 2018 will opt out of paying a traditional TV bill, up from its prior projection of 27.1 million (last year’s projection for 2018).

There are still 119.6 million households paying for cable or satellite TV in the United States, but eMarketer predicts that by 2022 as many as 55.1 million will be receiving their TV via the internet.

The new research suggests that the availability of quality content is supercharging the growth of the so-called over-the-top business, according to Paul Verna, an analyst eMarketer.

eMarketer isn’t the only measurement firm with this outlook. Mike Vorhaus, president of research group Magid, told USA Today in June:

“We have been saying this for five or six years now, and it’s rising again. This is unstoppable. People are going to cut the cord. The $100 (pay-TV) package is going to be under deep distress.”

Magid noted that 8 percent of pay-TV customers said they were “extremely likely” to cut the cord. The response the prior year was 6 percent.

See the original post here.

Check out these other Magid articles:

• What Netflix’s big miss means
• Streaming channels looking more like hated cable TV bundles
• Cord-cutting: 6 things to know about dropping pay-TV
• Research: Cord-Cutting Intent is Up, But Pay-TV Households Stay Steady