Netflix is now as popular as traditional TV – PWC

The trends for the traditional TV industry have only been heading in one direction, and according to PWC’s Consumer Intelligence Series, the trends are only getting worse.

The report claims cord cutting is now hitting an all-time high, with the number of subscriber to Pay TV down to 73% in the US, equally posed against the 73% who subscribe to Netflix. Unfortunately for the traditional TV space, 75% state they couldn’t handle using more than four services in addition to Pay TV. Considering the number of increasingly attractive alternative content channels is only growing, the end of traditional TV is becoming clearer.

Another interesting statistic which spells doom for traditional TV is the number of cord nevers. As you can see from the split below, traditional TV players don’t only have to worry about people ditching their subscriptions, but starting them in the first place. More and more new customers are ignoring the traditional content space, which should be a major concern.

One final area which should be a considerable concern is the appeal of live sports content. 82% of sports fans would end or trim their Pay TV subscription if they no longer needed it to access live sports. While this is a useful statistic to build future strategies around, the growing price to play in this space is starting to become disproportionately expensive. How much value are the traditional TV players getting considering how much they are having to spend?

These statistics are based on research from the US, though we’d imagine the trends are similar in the UK. Considering rights for the Premier League and Champions League are on the horizon, BT and Sky should start to get worried. With rumours of the OTTs, Amazon and Facebook in particular, sniffing around football content, the value of these rights will likely go down, while the impending auctions will force the price up.

The end is not here for the traditional TV industry just yet, but it is starting to get closer and closer.