Millennials comprise the largest portion of cord-cutters.
Stop the presses.
Okay, fine. It’s not rocket science to discover the proclivity of today’s youth to consume
video in an over-the-top fashion. But marketers would be wise to understand the large share of cord-cutting this group claims.
Millennials represent the biggest portion of cord-cutters, and
they’re also a group marketers desperately want to reach. That’s why figures such as the new data from research
firm GfK are worth noting. From a survey of 25,000 American consumers, the firm found that those ages 18 to 34 make up 43% of the so-called cordless population. That includes those who’ve
never had cable, satellite or any kind of pay-TV service and have cut the cord. When looking at the group of U.S. Millennials, about 30% are cord-free, almost twice as many as the 16% of cord-free
boomers, the research found.
When Millennials watch TV though, they often do it via streaming. About two-thirds of their viewing time is devoted to streaming from a TV set of other device --
nearly twice the amount that boomers stream. That demo spends the majority of its viewing time watching live or broadcast TV.
The cordless Millennials prefer the most popular streaming
services like Netlix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and YouTube. They also like Crunch Roll, Twitch and the Adult Swim app, GfK found.
Overall, video viewing in non-linear enviroments grew last year,
according to FreeWheel’s third quarter Video Monetization Report. Ad views and video
views grew 28% and 37% respectively. Sports and news should continue to drive online video viewing, which will further normalize non-traditional modes of TV viewing.