TV & Streaming

More than half of US TV watchers are cordless, according to report

Streaming continues to take up larger percentages of total time spent watching TV, according to the Video Advertising Bureau.
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More than half of the country’s adults have cut the cord, or never had a cord to cut in the first place, according to a new report from the Video Advertising Bureau.

In the report: In 2022, cordless viewers, defined as people who have either never signed up for a paid, traditional television service or have canceled that service, made up about 49% of all US adults. As of March this year, though, that figure is up to 54%.

Streaming, unsurprisingly, is also growing, accounting for a 38% share of monthly time spent watching television, compared to broadcast and cable’s 51%. That streaming share is up six percentage points from 2022, when it was 32%; broadcast and cable viewership comprised 58% of share that year.

  • More than 75% of streaming audiences use at least one ad-supported streaming service. That’s not altogether that surprising, considering the wave of ad-supported platforms that have recently debuted, including Amazon Prime Video’s ad-supported tier.
  • Another 73% said they’ve watched free ad-supported streaming TV or FAST channels, including free streamers like Pluto TV, Tubi, and Roku. That figure was 53% in 2022.

The finding jibe with other recent reports that indicate an acceptance of ad-supported streaming, as well as the fact that many ad-free tiers are getting more expensive.

Zoom out: Advertisers probably didn’t need these statistics alone to know which way the wind is blowing. A recent Magna forecast expects streaming ad sales to reach $10 billion this year, about a quarter of total national TV sales. Of course, some of the recipients of those dollars will be traditional players that also operating streaming services, like Paramount and Disney.

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