Make no mistake about it; we are in an age where the Internet is king. It has displaced the reign of cable, and is seems that every day more proof for that displacement arises from market research groups.
One piece of proof recently landed in the lap of BI Intelligence. The Business Insider discussed its department's latest research and noted some impressive figures that concern the final quarter of 2014. The research group grabbed subscriber information cable companies shared with Leichtman Research Group, and from that data, the group found that cable companies reportedly gained broadband subscribers but lost pay-TV subscribers in the quarter.
This is solid evidence for the growth of streaming services as the prime destination for shows and movies. It represents a broad swing in the reasons why consumers are attracted to telecommunications companies. More and more, we see in the pages of the Zype blog and other news entities that people are flocking to the set-top boxes and online streaming packages for their lower prices and shrunken, but relevant, channel packages.
That final point is perhaps the most interesting of the whole. People are migrating to streaming packages that offer them fewer channels than they were used to on cable. In part, it appears that operators are keeping their selections small so they can keep prices down. This seems to be the case with the coming Apple TV broadband service and the reason behind Apple's contention with Disney.
In addition to cost concerns, there is also something to be said for a selective list of channels. Do fewer channels trump a glut of channels? Well, operators are giving people exactly what they want. They don't offer less-desirable channels, so consumers can get the one or two sports, movie, drama, etc. stations they ordered and nothing they didn't. There is a transparency with streaming that has not been present on cable for some time.
The swing of subscriber information present in the latest research shows where people's loyalties lie. Those loyalties are migrating to broadband and away from cable -- toward streaming and away from the cord. Data from future quarters could confirm or deny these claims, and it will be worth watching this channel to remain in the loop about that ongoing set of events.
Feature image courtesy of Nuzree via Wikimedia Commons. Header image courtesy of Steve Johnson via Flickr.
Inline images courtesy of Yun Huang Yong and Mike L courtesy of Flickr and Wikimedia Commons.
.png)
.png)