FORT MILL, SC — Recent market evidence shows the U.S. is effectively split between homes with and without traditional pay‑TV: multiple trackers place pay‑TV household penetration around 44–50%, implying roughly 50–56% are cord‑cutters or cord‑nevers. Major providers collectively lost about 6.92 million video subscribers in 2023, with additional declines through 2024, while customer satisfaction remains far higher for streaming than for cable/satellite. See FCC’s 2024 Communications Marketplace Report, Reuters (Mar. 19, 2024), ACSI: Streaming Video Service, ACSI: Subscription TV, and J.D. Power (2024).
Streaming now leads U.S. TV usage time: Nielsen’s The Gauge reported streaming as the largest share throughout 2024 and around 40% of total TV time in October 2025, consistently outpacing cable and broadcast. At the same time, operators are adapting to cord‑cutting by bundling and aggregating streaming: Comcast’s StreamSaver offers Peacock Premium, Netflix (Standard with ads), and Apple TV+ for $15/month to Xfinity Internet customers; Charter’s Disney agreement brings Disney+ (Basic, with ads) to Spectrum TV Select and ESPN+ to TV Select Plus, with an on‑ramp to ESPN’s forthcoming DTC product (Disney/Charter); and the Xumo Stream Box aggregates live apps, major streaming services, and FAST channels with voice search.
Costs and value drive behavior. Satisfaction benchmarks show streaming in the upper‑70s on ACSI’s 0–100 scale versus mid‑60s for subscription TV—among the lowest of any industry—while J.D. Power identifies “value for price” as the weakest factor for traditional TV providers (ACSI streaming; ACSI subscription TV; J.D. Power 2024). Note that “pay TV” definitions vary by source—some include vMVPDs (e.g., YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV), others do not—so penetration estimates can shift by several points (FCC 2024 CMR).
Independent polling indicates that cord‑cutter regret remains low even after streaming price increases, aligning with the sustained erosion of pay‑TV subscriptions (CivicScience; Reuters). Live sports is a major catalyst for the shift: rights and digital‑first carve‑outs increasingly appear on streaming services and vMVPDs, with enhanced features (multi‑view, stats, DAI) helping streamers acquire and retain audiences (Nielsen The Gauge; PwC Outlook 2025–2029).
Households increasingly manage costs by rotating subscriptions and adopting ad‑supported tiers. In 2025, Antenna tracking shows monthly SVOD churn in the mid‑single digits, and many homes maintain multiple paid services—often around four on average—while swapping in and out around new releases and sports windows (Antenna Insights; Deloitte Digital Media Trends 2025). Pairing a few ad‑tier SVODs and free FAST apps can undercut a full cable bundle, while always‑on “stacks” or year‑round live TV packages narrow savings (see price context: The Verge streaming price tracker; YouTube TV $72.99/mo; Xfinity broadcast/RSN fees).
For more information, contact: Megan Wilburn | Communications Associate, Reviews.com | [email protected]
Study Methodology
This update synthesizes multiple current sources rather than a single survey. Core references include: market trend compilations from the FCC’s 2024 Communications Marketplace Report; subscriber‑loss tallies reported by Reuters (Mar. 19, 2024); satisfaction benchmarks from ACSI (streaming), ACSI (subscription TV), and J.D. Power (2024); viewing‑share context from Nielsen’s The Gauge; and sentiment/behavior data from CivicScience, Antenna (2025), and Deloitte Digital Media Trends 2025. Definitions matter: some sources include virtual MVPDs in “pay TV” while others exclude them, and denominators (TV households vs. total households) vary. For evaluating survey quality and comparability, we follow guidance from Pew Research Center methods and AAPOR Standard Definitions, and we triangulate self‑reports with provider counts and passive viewing metrics.
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