US multichannel video service levelling off

87% of US households subscribe to some form of multichannel video service, according to research from Leichtman Research Group. The percentage of households that subscribe to a multi-channel video service is similar to last year, and up from 80% in 2004.

“The overall percentage of US households subscribing to a multichannel video service is as high as it has ever been, but it is leveling off,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, in a statement. “Higher income households remain most likely to subscribe to a multichannel video service. This group also spends more money per month on video services, while being less likely to switch or disconnect services than others.”

Non-subscribers to multichannel services tend to have lower household incomes. US-wide (including households that do not have a TV set), 8% with annual household incomes over $75,000 (€52,839) do not subscribe to a multichannel video service — compared to 14% with incomes of $30,000-$75,000, and 20% with incomes under $30,000.

These findings are based on a survey of 1,500 randomly selected households from throughout the US, and are part of a new LRG study, Cable, DBS, & Telcos: Competing for Customers 2011.

LRG’s research also found that: 12% of non-subscribers paid to subscribe to a service in the past year (the percentage of non-subscribers who dropped service in the past year has been fairly consistent over the years of these studies); Mean reported monthly spending on multichannel video service is $73.35 — an increase of 3.0% from last year; Multichannel video subscribers with annual household incomes over $75,000 report spending 17% more per month than those with incomes under $30,000 — when non-subscribers are included, mean spending per household of all with incomes >$75,000 is 34% higher than those with incomes <$30,000; 9% of cable TV subscribers.

With regards to switch providers or cancelling subscriptions, the report found that 8% of satellite TV subscribers, and 6% of Telco TV subscribers are likely to switch from their current provider in the next six months; 13% of multichannel video subscribers with annual household incomes under $50,000 are likely to switch from their current provider in the next six months — compared to 6% with incomes over $50,000; 9% of multichannel video subscribers with household incomes under $30,000 are likely to disconnect and not subscribe to any TV service in the next six months — compared to 2% with incomes over $50,000.

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