New Survey: Nearly Half of All Americans Are Already Cord-Cutters; Even More Are Doing So

A new survey from The Trade Desk indicates that nearly half of all American television viewers have already “cut the cord” and even more are doing so.

Data from the survey shows that 47% of Americans do not have cable or satellite service currently, while 44 percent of Americans with cable TV service anticipate reducing or eliminating their service within the upcoming year.

According to the survey, cord-cutting became more commonplace as TV programming along the lines of televised live sports became much more unpredictable during the pandemic and the desire for on-demand content increased.

The increase in cord-cutting appears to be centralizing among the 18-to-34 and 35-to-54-year-old age groups. The survey indicated that 60% of the younger demographic cited has already cut the cord, while a slightly smaller percentage — 53% — has dropped cable television service.

The two age groups are among those most desired by advertisers.

“We are entering a new TV normal, where new streaming viewing models sit side by side with traditional TV formats,” said The Trade Desk's chief revenue officer, Tim Sims. “From an advertiser’s perspective, this shift presents a tremendous opportunity. They can reach those streaming TV viewers with more precision and accuracy than ever because they can apply data to those TV campaigns in a way that’s not possible with linear.”

Traditionally, sports has been a driver for linear television viewing, but streaming has jumped even among that group of viewers — with only 19% of TV viewers returning to their pre-pandemic sports viewing habits. In comparison, about 44% of sports viewers are choosing a primary source away from linear TV, according to the study.