More than one-third of Boston area households are 'cord-cutters' or 'cord-nevers'. This means, they have fired their cable or satellite television providers or never subscribed at all. Instead, these consumers are choosing to find their video entertainment elsewhere.
The number of local homes that subscribe to pay-TV services began plummeting in 2013. New technologies has allowed viewers to bypass cable and satellite for more compelling content at lower prices. These cord-cutters now depend on services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime to fill their multiple screens.
For many years, Boston small business owners have been investing a significant portion of their advertising budgets into cable-TV. The medium had proven to be a low-cost, high-reach alternative to buying commercial on over-the-air television stations.
Now, because of cord-cutting, there are 1.3 million adult consumers with unconnected TVs. This profoundly diminishes the value proposition of advertising with local cable systems.
There is a powerful and affordable solution, however, for small business owners to reach both the diminishing cable audience and the expanding number of cord-cutters.