TiVo Examines Differences Between Pay-TV Subscribers & Cord-Cutters

TiVo Corporation has surveyed pay-TV and OTT service subscribers across the U.S., Europe and Latin America as part of a new study that sheds light on the differences between cord-cutters and loyal pay-TV subs.

The multi-country study revealed that one in four consumers who have had pay-TV services for less than 12 months are “extremely likely” to cord cut or cord shave in the next six months. Fifty-five percent of pay-TV subscribers in the U.S. and 42 percent in Western Europe have had service with their current provider for four years or more, compared to 32 percent in LatAm. In the U.S. and Western Europe, tenured pay-TV subscribers are much more likely to be baby boomers instead of millennials. However, in Latin America, the distribution of age groups is fairly even. Among those in the U.S. who have been with their provider for four years or more, 51 percent are boomers while only 11 percent are millennials. In Western Europe, just 43 percent of those who have had their pay-TV service for four years or more subscribe to an OTT service, compared to 49 percent in the U.S. and 67 percent in Latin America.

“As new, shiny OTT services and streaming devices continue to proliferate in the market and compete for consumer attention, there is considerable risk that younger generations may come to view pay-TV as an antiquated service that doesn’t play a role in their daily lives,” said Paul Stathacopoulos, the VP of strategy and research at TiVo. “Service providers must focus on delivering entertainment experiences that are compelling to a highly segmented viewer composition. By staying ahead of the curve through technology innovation, providers can retain longer-term subscribers, while attracting young consumers by adapting the TV experience to include a wide array of internet video services and viewing devices.”

TiVo found that more than 38 percent of viewers shut down and turn off their devices altogether when they can’t find something to watch. A whopping 50 percent “strongly agree” that, for the amount they pay for their TV service, it should be easier to find what they want to watch, while 26 percent say they would pay more each month for a service that simplified video discovery across all the services they subscribe to.

Stathacopoulos continued, “As video entertainment options expand, consumers around the world continue to consume a vast amount of content across services and devices. But without a shift or focus on innovating the way consumers connect to entertainment, hyper-fragmentation will continue to be a barrier, driving consumer frustration and impacting how the industry captures the entertainment wallet share.”