• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 21, 2024

Complete “quitting” of any program viewing on legacy TV platforms continues to lag what has been called “quiet quitting” -- cutting back on viewing on cable, satellite or over-the-air platforms, according to a new Inscape report.

"Sticky" sports and news content may have something to do with this, according to the survey.

Among those surveyed in the last three months of 2023, 61% of respondents spent all their TV viewing time with streaming, with 39% spending all their time on cable/satellite/over-the-air platforms and stations.

Drilling down, in the fourth quarter, the Inscape panel reported 72% of respondents' sports viewing time was on cable/satellite systems (28% for streaming). 

Regular TV news content continues to be the strongest on legacy TV platforms -- at 79% versus 21% for streaming. News-related GOP presidential debates posted an 81% number in favor of cable/satellite/OTA platforms.

At the same time, the report says the percentage of viewers “no longer viewing cable/satellite” programming rose 6.5% in the period versus 4.0% a year earlier. This data is based on U.S. homes with at least six minutes of cable/satellite viewership in each of the last four quarters.

Looking at the fourth quarter of 2023 versus the previous year, 15% of viewers decreased their cable and satellite viewing time by more than 75% -- but did not fully “quit.”

Around 12% of viewers who lowered their viewing by 50% to 75% also did not “quit.”