While Sling and Apple TV and Verizon mess around with their skinny bundles, they should remember this: everyone wants to cancel their cable subscription.
Fine, maybe not everyone. Yet. But every study keeps finding the same thing, like the one released by Limelight this week that shows that 90% of consumers are “open to cutting the cord cancelling their cable and pay-TV subscriptions in favor of over-the-top (OTT) video services such as HBO Now and Hulu.”
“The State of Online Video” focused mainly on millennials, who
watch 4-7 hours of online video a week, which is around double of all the other age groups they surveyed. And although mobile devices are always in their pockets personal laptops are still the top choice among the demo. Jason Thibeault, senior director at Limelight said over email that:
Our findings show that consumers are increasingly moving away from the traditional television experience towards online viewing. With Millennials leading this change, consumers are driven by the flexibility of being able to watch what they want, where they want, and on whatever device they choose.
OTT offerings are more plentiful, but still not ideal. Either way, 90 percent of those surveyed said they either didn’t have cable or would be more than willing to give it up if prices increased or they were able to get channels they wanted elsewhere. So far, the “neo-bundles” as Tim Wu put it in the New Yorker this week:
On the other hand, the neo-bundles may remain too much like cable television to attract the now generation, which is comprised of cord-cutters, potential cord-cutters, and “cord-nevers” (those who have never subscribed to pay-TV). One problem is still the user interface. The neo-bundles still feel like cable TV; you need to plan your watching, and they don’t generally provide the simple on-demand viewing that binge-viewers have grown accustomed to. There also remains something alienating for some people about having to buy any bundle: it’s still going to the grocery store to buy milk and being required to buy eggs and broccoli as well.
Either way, the stats are out there. and so are the not-so-great cord cutting options. We’re stuck in television purgatory.