Report links OTT on television with increase in cord cutting

A report by consumer data company Experian shows a direct link between the availability of over-the-top content such as Netflix and an increase in consumers cutting the cable cord.

In data compiled from interviews with 24,219 US adults, the report showed that in 2013 18.1 percent of households with a Netflix or Hulu account fell into the cord-cutter category. In 2010 that number was 12.7 percent. At the same time, the total percentage of cord-cutting US households across all subscriptions climbed to 6.5 percent from 4.5 percent in 2010. "While the term cord-cutter implies that a household had a cable or satellite TV subscription that was cancelled, young adults starting out on their own for the first time may never pay for TV service," the report stated. The numbers seem to back that up as households with anyone in the 18-34 age range comprise 12.4 percent of cord cutter households. That number, too, is up from 7.9 percent in 2010. Perhaps most telling in the statistics -- and the area that would seem most heartening to pay TV subscribers -- is the finding that viewing content on devices isn't driving cord cutting. When that content is available on TV, however, it's another matter. "Despite the fact that a growing number of Americans are watching video on portable personal devices, that doesn't seem to be enough to overwhelmingly convince Americans to cut the cord," the report states. "Rather, it's the ability to stream or download video directly to the television -- the modern caveman's campfire -- that seems to be the tipping point."