OTTAWA – With more ways of accessing TV content without a paid TV subscription in Canada than ever before, who’s cutting the cord, who’s not, and who’s never had a cord in the first place? A pair of new reports from Media Technology Monitor (MTM) explore those questions and examines these evolving trends.
The Living Without TV Service: Off-Air and Tuned Out Canadians report examines these two unique groups, and looks at why they have chosen to live without paid TV service, how the groups compare to each other, and how they compare to those who do pay for TV service.
Highlights from the report include:
– One in seven Canadians live without a paid TV service (i.e. Tuned-Out and Off-Air);
– Canadians without a paid TV service are much less interested in traditional TV than those who subscribe; they spend roughly half as much time as TV subscribers watching traditional TV each week; and
– Those living without a paid TV service are more likely to watch TV content online and to subscribe to Netflix. Tuned-Out Canadians are 40% more likely to have a Netflix subscription than those subscribing to TV services.
Cord Cutting: Analysis of the Canadian Market delves into the world of cord cutters, cord nevers and cord shavers in Canada, including who has already done it, who is most interested, and who has never bothered to subscribe and how they access TV content.
Highlights from that report are:
– In the past three years, 5% of all Canadians have cut the cord. Those who have never bothered to have a TV service, called ‘Cord Nevers’, make up 7% of Canadians;
– One fifth of current TV subscribers say they are interested in cutting the cord – and 32% of them have already started taking steps toward that end;
– Comparing the two language markets; Anglophones are 64% more likely to indicate a desire to cancel their paid TV service as Francophones. Access to paid TV services such as ‘pick and pay’ and a smaller selection of French programming available online may be contributing to this lack of interest.
MTM is the research arm of the CBC.
