Cord Cutting Not Slowing Down: Decline of Cable TV Subscribers Continues

The topic of the declining popularity of cable TV is a hot one. We touched on it a bit this past spring with a look at the fact that the number of cable-free homes in the US had just hit 5 million (up from 2 million in 2007). Now, in a detailed look at the situation at Business Insider, we can see that this is a trend that’s not slowing down. Internet killed the cable TV star.

Here’s a worthwhile chart (courtesy of Business Insider) right from the get-go:

Since Q1 2010, there’s been a steady decline in the number of cable TV subscribers from quarter to quarter, and in another chart shown in the article, the usual spike that occurs in the late fall / early winter has been severely weakened over the past couple of years as well (and it’s expected that this year will be the worst in that respect to date).

It’s not just cable subscribers that are on the decline, but broadband as well. Further, popular TV events that tend to draw in a record number of people aren’t getting as much reception nowadays. The World Series game 1, for example, drew about 11.9 million viewers in 2009, while each year since then up to 2012 has attracted 8.9m, 8.7m, and finally, 7.6m (no official word on 2013’s yet).

There are a ton of metrics at the source article to peruse, but the general consensus is that the Internet is killing cable TV as we know it, and cable and broadcast networks are feeling it.

With the advent of things like YouTube, a lot of people have transitioned from watching “shows” to watching “videos”. While I’d say that some people might have changed over due to time constraints, I know a lot of people who can watch YouTube for hours at a time – if the content is good, it’ll pull people in. One might imagine that it would also be easier done when no cable TV fee is involved (and seriously, those have been high for far too long).

The article also suggests that mobile has a lot to do with things (and undoubtedly, it does), and that each platform has its own ‘prime time’. Certainly, with all of the technology surrounding us today, we sure don’t have to be in the home to get content like we used to.