To cancel or not to cancel? It’s a question I have been wrestling with each month when I receive my cable bill. Every time I wonder why I am paying for over 100 channels when I only watch four of them. And I use Netflix and HBO GO (soon to be HBO NOW) on a regular basis, but I haven’t been ready to cut the cord quite yet.

The issue of cord-cutting has been a hot topic the news in recent months. With online streaming services adding more content to their libraries, media companies producing online TV bundles at cheaper price points, and premium channels making their content available to stream online, consumers have many more options than they did just last year.

We wanted to find out who already eliminated their cable/satellite TV service, who reduced their service, and who would be willing to eliminate/reduce in the future when more options become available. After collecting 3,396 responses from U.S. adults, here’s what we found:

cord-cutting bar chart UPDATED

Many consumers have already eliminated or reduced their TV service and others would be open to the idea, especially if broadcast network content or sports content became available online.

So who already canceled or reduced, and who is considering canceling/reducing their TV service (this group combined the three answer options of those who answered “I will do this when I can watch….”)?  Below are some notable differences we found when cross-tabbing the question of interest with others in our question library.

Gender:

  • Those who have reduced their TV service are slightly more likely (+8%) to be women than the general U.S. adult population.
  • Those who are thinking of canceling or reducing are 12% more likely than the adult population to be men.

Age:

Although we asked this question to U.S. adults, we focused on consumers 25 and older since they are more likely to have a cable/satellite service in their own name than 18-24 year olds.

  • Those who have canceled their TV service are 46% more likely to be 25-44 years old than the general population.
  • Those who are thinking of canceling or reducing when more options become available are 20% more likely than the general adult population to be 25-44 years old.
  • Those who have reduced their TV service are slightly more likely than the general adult population to be 45 and older.

Income:

  • Those who already canceled their TV service are 31% more likely than the general population to have a household income of $50K and under.
  • Those who already reduced their service are slightly more likely than the general population to have a household income of $50K and under.
  • Consumers who are thinking of canceling or reducing when more options become available are 21% more likely than the general population to have a higher income over $100K.

Primary TV viewing method:

  • Those who have canceled their service are 2X more likely than average to watch the majority of their TV via online streaming.
  • Those who will reduce/cancel when there are more options available to them are 39% more likely than average to DVR their shows and watch them later.

Daily TV viewing:

  • Those who have reduced their service are 29% more likely than average to watch an hour or less of TV each day.
  • Those who will reduce/cancel when there are more options available to them are 23% more likely to watch 1-2 hours of TV daily than average.

Sports viewing:

Those who will reduce/cancel when there are more options available to them are 67% more likely to watch an average of 5-10 hours of sports on TV.

Travel/home/cooking viewing:

Those who have already reduced their service are 38% more likely than average to watch travel/home/cooking on TV of an average of 5-10 hours per week.

Device ownership:

  • Those who have already canceled are 19% more likely to own a smartphone than average.
  • Those who will reduce/cancel when there are more options available to them are 24% more likely than average to own a tablet.

Evangelizers:

Those who will reduce/cancel when there are more options available to them are 23% more likely than average to say they like to tell others about new brands or technology.

Recap:

Younger individuals are adopting the cord-cutting trend before older individuals. Those who already canceled their service are more likely to be ages 25-45 and have a lower income than the general population. They are more likely to own a smartphone than average and they most likely have at least one subscription to an online streaming service since they watch the majority of their TV via online streaming.

Those who have reduced their cable are more likely to be older women who don’t watch much TV; however, when they are watching TV there’s a good chance they are watching travel/home/cooking shows.

And lastly, the laggards who are more hesitant on reducing or eliminating their service until more options become available are more likely to be men with higher incomes. They are slightly more likely than the general adult population to be younger. These individuals are more likely than average to DVR their shows, watch sports TV, own a tablet computer, and enjoy telling others about new products and technology.

It will be interesting to see how these numbers change as more streaming and TV options become available to consumers.