We’ve had cord cutting, now welcome to the concept of cord cheating as US customers use over the top services to supplement their pay-TV offer, disregarding the on demand offer of their established provider.
Digitalsmiths, which coined the term in the last quarter, believes cord cheating to bean “enormous threat” that requires consumer-facing improvements.
Its latest survey says competition is coming to pay-TV providers from all angles.
The survey results prove the competition facing Pay-TV providers is now coming from all angles. Here are a few key stats highlighted within the report:
· 48.2% of respondents are using subscription OTT services such as Netflix and Hulu.
· 28.7% of respondents are using third-party pay-per-rental services such as Redbox kiosks and iTunes.
· 72.9% of respondents never purchase from their Pay-TV provider’s VOD catalog
· 19.6% of respondents have their Pay-TV Provider’s TV Everywhere app on their tablet and/or smartphone
· 15.4% say they tweet or post what they are watching on social networks, but 30.8% said they choose to watch something based on a TV show/movie’s social buzz.
However, it is not all bad news for the likes of Comcast, Time Warner and Rogers. Of the 17.2% who increased their pay-TV subscription! many did so for sports in line with the start of the new NFL season.
Satisfaction levels remain stable at 58.6%.
