8% of Dutch consumers expect to cancel their TV subscription in the next two years as more programming becomes available over the internet.
The share of consumers who want to keep their TV subscription in order to maintain access to live TV fell in the past half year from 58 to 47%, according to research by the Telecompaper Consumer Panel in August.
In only six months, the percentage of consumers who expect to cancel their TV subscription within two years has doubled. The same survey in January this year found only 4% would consider ‘cord cutting’. Another 5% said they expect that eventually they will no longer have a traditional TV subscription and switch to internet TV, although not necessarily in the next two years.
Those who want to keep their TV subscription in order to access live TV shows reached 47% in August, down from 58% in January but up from 40% in August 2014. This may reflect in part that there are still few providers offering OTT TV, and access to live TV on connected devices is usually linked to having a standard TV subscription. KPN is expected to launch later this year the OTT service Play with live channels, while Lebara recently introduced an online TV service targeted at specific ethnic groups.
Other reasons not to cancel the TV subscription include resistance from other members of the family (7%).
Young people were more likely to say they’re ready to cut the cord. Among 12-19 year-olds, 13% said they expect to cancel their TV subscription within two years. This was 12% in the 20-29 age group and 11% of 30-39 year-olds.
Among older age groups, only 5% of 50-64 year-olds could see ending their TV subscription within two years and almost no one over 65 said they expect to switch to internet from standard TV.
The same picture appears among those who want to keep their TV service for live TV. Young people were less likely than the market average to hold on to their TV subscriptions for this reason, while older people were more likely, reaching as much as 60% of over-65s.
There were also differences between the sexes when it comes to cord-cutting. 10% of men expect to cancel their TV subscriptions within the next two years in favour of internet TV, while only 5% of women plan the same. Among both men and women, fewer said they expect to hold on to their TV subscription for live TV compared to six months ago, at 45% of men and 49 percent of women versus respectively 58 and 57% in January.