Trender Research: 7% of Households Will Cut the Cable Cord by 2012

Westford, MA — Seven percent of households will forgo their pay-TV subscriptions by 2012 in favor of some combination of over-the-top (OTT) video services and free over-the-air broadcast television, according to Trender Research Inc., a consumer technology market research and consulting firm. Trender's report  includes a model for estimating the percentage of households that will “cut the cord,” based on limited, realistic, and aggressive adoption scenarios. The 7 percent prediction is based on Trender's "realistic" scenario.

“The good news for pay-TV service providers is that the 80/20 rule applies in the case of OTT video,” says Trender Research CEO Brian Mahony. “The vast majority of consumers will not consider abandoning the familiarity, comfort and content of traditional television until several obstacles to OTT adoption are overcome.” Among the OTT obstacles highlighted in the report are limited live-TV, sports and high-definition content, and the relative complexity of setting up and using OTT devices and networks.

“However, the OTT market is moving fast,” continues Mahony. “Judging by the rapid growth of online video consumption on sites like Hulu, and the plethora of enabling devices such as Roku, Xbox, and a range of new HDTV models, our projection may be conservative.”