Pay TV vs. Non-Pay-TV Households:
Pay TV vs. Non-Pay-TV Households The chart above shows the number of total US households paying for conventional TV services, along with estimates based on current trends through 2026. Pay TV homes include consumers with cable or satellite subscriptions, while the Non-Pay TV category includes both households that never bought cable along with "cord-cutters" who have dropped their cable subscriptions and moved over to streaming.
The Impact of vMVPD: vMVPD stands for "virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributor," and it refers to internet-only services that help users watch content traditional TV content, such as Sling TV or Hulu + Live TV. In the above chart, these are grouped with the Non-Pay TV households, as they don't have conventional cable subscriptions. If they are included on the Pay-TV side, it postpones the trend of Non-Pay TV households overtaking Pay-TV by several years.
Demographic Change: Obviously, the rise of streaming platforms and their multitude of programming options is the primary driver behind cord-cutting. But demographics also play a key role. Younger Americans are much more likely to consistently watch online videos than their older counterparts. 86% of internet users between ages 15 and 24 watched videos online in 2017, compared with just 40% of users ages 65 and older.
