Research: Americans could give up cable
June 14, 2011
Over three-quarters of Americans (77 per cent) have watched a TV show on the Internet rather than on a traditional television, according to a poll by Harris Interactive. Over half of those with cable met (56 per cent) would stop paying for cable, if certain stipulations were met.
Other findings in this poll include:
– Half of US adults say they have watched a show on the Internet that they never previously saw on a traditional television (51 per cent);
Younger adults are more likely to have watched a TV show on the Internet than are those older—88 per cent of those 18-34 years have, compared to 84 per cent of those 35-44 years, 75 per cent of those 45-54 years and 64 per cent of those 55 years and older;
– Men and women are equally likely to have watched a TV show on the Internet—just over three quarters say they have done so (76 per cent and 77 per cent, respectively);
– Almost nine in ten Americans currently have cable TV (87 per cent) and a majority would stop paying for it in favour of watching TV shows on the Internet if certain conditions were met (56 per cent):
– Two in five say they would stop paying for cable TV in favour of watching TV shows on the Internet if they could get all of the programmes that they wanted to watch for free online (44 per cent);
– A quarter of adults say that they would need to get all the shows they wanted to watch online at the same time that they air on TV (25 per cent);
– 16 per cent would do so if they could get all the programmes they wanted to watch for a small fee online and the same number say they would do so if it was less complicated to set their TV up with Internet.