June 27, 2011

High-Income Households Are Most Likely To Subscribe To Pay-TV

New consumer research from Leichtman Research Group (LRG) finds that 87 percent of households nationwide subscribe to some form of multi-channel video service. The percentage of households that subscribe to a multi-channel video service is similar to last year, and up from 80 percent in 2004.

Non-subscribers to multi-channel services tend to have lower household incomes. Nationwide (including households that do not have a TV set), 8 percent with annual household incomes over $75,000 do not subscribe to a multi-channel video service - compared to 14 percent with incomes of $30,000-$75,000, and 20 percent with incomes under $30,000.
 
These findings are based on a survey of 1,500 randomly selected households from throughout the United States, and are part of a new LRG study "Cable, DBS, & Telcos: Competing for Customers 2011." This is LRG's ninth annual study of this topic.

LRG's research also found that:

• 12 percent of non-subscribers paid to subscribe to a service in the past year (the percentage of non-subscribers who dropped service in the past year has been fairly consistent over the years of these studies);
• Mean reported monthly spending on multi-channel video service is $73.35 - an increase of 3.0 percent from last year;
• Multi-channel video subscribers with annual household incomes over $75,000 report spending 17 percent more per month than those with incomes under $30,000 - when non-subscribers are included, mean spending per household of all with incomes >$75,000 is 34 percent higher than those with incomes <$30,000;
• 9 percent of cable TV subscribers, 8 percent of satellite TV subscribers, and 6 percent of Telco TV subscribers are likely to switch from their current provider in the next six months;
• 13 percent of multi-channel video subscribers with annual household incomes under $50,000 are likely to switch from their current provider in the next six months - compared to 6 percent with incomes over $50,000;
• 9 percent of multi-channel video subscribers with household incomes under $30,000 are likely to disconnect and not subscribe to any TV service in the next six months - compared to 2percent with incomes over $50,000.