7.6 Million U.S. Households Now ‘Cord-Cutters’

NEW YORK: According to Experian Marketing Services, an estimated 7.6 million U.S. homes are considered cord-cutters, an increase of 44 percent in the past four years.

Experian's cross-device video analysis shows that 48 percent of all U.S. adults and 67 percent of young adults watch streaming or downloaded video during a typical week. Mobile is the first screen for watching, streaming or downloading video, with 24 percent of U.S. adults and 42 percent of smartphone owners watching this type of video a week.

An estimated 6.5 percent of U.S. households (7.6 million homes) are cord-cutters. That's up from the 4.5 percent of households (5.1 million homes) in 2010. In households where there is an adult under the age of 35, 12.4 percent are cord-cutters, which is almost twice the national average. Add in either a Netflix or Hulu account and the same share of young adult households that don't pay for TV rises to 24.3 percent.

“While we are seeing the way we view video drastically changing, television is likely to remain the primary device for consumer video; we just are witnessing the transition of the definition of television,” said John Fetto, senior analyst, marketing and research at Experian Marketing Services. “A third of Americans live in households with Internet-connected TVs, giving them the option to stream or download video to the television either directly or with devices such as Kindle Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV and Google Chromecast.”