Audio Video News

Almost four in 10 homes with an 18-34 year-old resident rely on broadcast-only or Internet-only alternatives to cable or satellite, according to new research from GfK.

The study found that levels of broadcast-only reception and Internet-only video subscriptions have both risen over the past year, with one-quarter of U.S. TV households now going without cable or satellite reception.

GfK’s “2016 Ownership and Trend Report” reveals that 17 percent of TV households now rely on broadcast-only “over-the-air” reception, up from 15 percent last year, according to a summary of the research findings on TVNewsCheck.com. Another 6 percent say all of their TV comes from Internet-based streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and YouTube, up from 4 percent a year ago.

Another key finding was that TV households with a resident between 18 and 34 years old are much more likely to be opt for alternatives to cable and satellite TV; 22 percent of these homes get their TV exclusively over the air (versus 17 percent for all households) and 13 percent from Internet-based streaming services (versus 6 percent of all TV homes).

Overall, the report found that 38 percent of 18-to-34 households rely on some kind of alternative TV reception or video source, versus 25 percent of all homes. On the other hand, households with at least one resident age 50 or above were found to have higher rates of subscribing to cable or satellite services. More than eight in 10 (82 percent) have some sort of pay TV subscription, versus 75 percent for all U.S. TV households.

“The fact that a statistically significant increase in broadcast-only reception occurred over just one year may be further proof that the cord-cutting/cord-never phenomenon is accelerating,” GfK’s David Tice, told TVNewsCheck. “If you include homes that have no TVs at all—about 3 percent of all households—then less than three quarters (73 percent) of U.S. homes continue to have pay TV service.”

Broadcast-only reception is more common in TV households earning less than $30,000 per year (26 percent, versus 17 percent among all TV homes) and in Hispanic homes (24 percent). Households with incomes of $50,000 a year or more have higher levels of satellite subscription—27 percent, compared with an average of 21 percent.