Will video subscriptions fall by 20 percent in 2016?

One in five US video subscribers could drop their cable or satellite service next year. That’s the conclusion of a PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) report, anyway. In “Video 3.0: The evolution of TV’s revolution,” PwC warns that fewer people – young people in particular – are interested in purchasing traditional video subscriptions.

The study predicts a huge decrease in pay-tv subscriptions: “Consumers’ relationship with video content is fundamentally changing—and the shift shows no signs of abating. In 2014, 91% of consumers said they could see themselves subscribing to cable in the following year. In 2015, that figure dropped to 79%—implying more than one-fifth of consumers could ditch their cable subscription in the next year.”

Whether or not that extrapolation is accurate, the point remains: video subscribers are cutting the cord as the market shifts to online video viewing.

Video 3.0: The evolution of TV’s revolution (PricewaterhouseCooper, Dec. 2015)