Study: 60% of Generation Y Leaning Toward Cutting the Cord

A survey released today aims to show cable providers how they can keep losing their and influential viewers from cutting the cable. Ideas and Solutions, a Los Angeles-based consultant group for media and technology companies, says that 60% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 were either leaning towards or seriously considering giving up paid television.

The Ideas and Solutions report, which is greatly skewed to the point of view of the paid television operators, puts the so-called Generation Y demographic of 70 million TV watchers into three groups – “loyalists,” “leaners” and “at-risk.” Not surprisingly, the “at-risk” group were early adopters of technology much more likely to gravitate towards services like Hulu and Netflix. What category do you fall in?

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“While the media has focused much of its reporting on the extent of cord-cutting overall, there is little mention of the behaviors and attitudes of vulnerable groups within this key constituency. This is the demographic that completely transformed the music and the phone business and has already started to dramatically reshape the pay-TV ecosystem,” Friedman said.

According to Ideas and Solutions market breakdown, I would fall in to the “at-risk” group, as would probably most employees at ReadWriteWeb.

“It’s not that the sky is falling, but it certainly warrants a lot of attention, and the subscription-based pay-TV providers, along with the programmers who rely on them for distribution, should really invest the time and the resources to get to know this audience better,” Glen L. Friedman, president and founder of Ideas and Solutions, said in a release.

Why Gen Y Is Leaning Away From Paid Television

The report notes that consumers loyal to paid television were sports fans who found the billing cycle convenient. It says that marketers can keep subscribers by attuning television more to “at-risk” and “leaners” preferences such as on-demand, DVR options and programming more aligned with their interests.

Cost was the major factor in cord-cutters decisions, with 69% “at-risk” and 61% of “leaners” citing it as the primary reason for cutting the cord. “Other ways I can watch entertainment content” was at 36% and 35% for the two groups respectively.

Nearly 50% of those at risk of cutting the cord are Netflix and Hulu users as opposed to 29% of “loyalists” and 42% of “leaners.”

Ideas and Solutions suggests that paid television providers become “need to be cognizant of their pricing and packaging models and face the challenge that many ‘Gen Ys’ want the features they need at affordable price points because they are
willing, ready and able to turn to alternative options, no matter what their level of loyalty to pay-TV,” the report says.

The was an “integrated qualitative and quantitative study of 500 aged 18 to 19 who were current pay-TV subscribers. Friedman has developed product strategy for DirectTV and held senior positions at Time Warner Cable and Century Cable.

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