2. Programming Trends

 

The Age of Cord Cutting 

    In recent years society has moved away from regular cable television. Most own a variety of streaming services that is personalized to what shows and movies they want to watch, without having to pay for the "extra". In this "cord cutting" society around 55% of Americans who subscribe to streaming services without having cable TV as well according to Adwave. 

    One factor behind the birth of the "cord cutting" is that the younger generations (18-34) also known as the "cord-never" generation has grown up with streaming being their default. The thought of traditional cable TV seems archaic and unnecessary. Many believe that social engagement is to blame for the downward turn in cable subscriptions in younger generation. MediaPost claims that "total social media reactions, shares, comments across Facebook, Instagram, X, and Tik Tok amounted to 64 million in August 2025." This was a major uptick from August of 2017, when there was only a total of 11 million. The Media Post also claims that this activity is brought on by "creator economy". Now, platforms like YouTube "are no longer viewed as 'separate categories' but as integral parts of the streaming diet. For many households, creator-driven video sits alongside premium series, sports, and films as everyday viewing." 

    Another factor for society cutting cord is due to cable costs being too high. 86.7% of people that switched to exclusively streaming stated that their reason for switching was due to high costs according to Evoca Research.  On average cable bills can cost $100 to $150 or more a month. Most people do not see this as a good use of their money, especially when they may one watch a hand full of the hundreds of channels. People feel that it is better use of their hard-earned money to purchase streaming services. 

    It seems that people also like the flexibility of streaming platforms where they can cancel their subscriptions at any time. With cable companies they would be locked into a contract for a year or several years. People also like that they can stream anywhere and watch what they want when they want to watch. Younger generations are busier than ever before. This makes it hard to be able to catch their shows when they air. With streaming services, they can watch their favorite shows at their convenience. Searching the guide for your anticipated show and recording on DVR is now a thing of the past with the ease of streaming services. 

    However, cable companies have pulled out one last weapon in their arsenal to keep their subscribers. Many have started doing bundles. These bundles have both a cable package as well as streaming services. These bundles are meant to make the customer believe that they are getting to good of a deal to pass up on. Although only time will tell if cable companies Hail Mary pays off but the data is not looking good for them. With the older generation of cable users are aging out, high costs and contracts, and live sports moving to streaming services such as Amazon and Apple TV the steaming services have the uphill advantage in this war.