Broadband-Only Homes to Hit 40M by 2023: Forecast

MONTEREY, Calif. -- Broadband-only households are set to grow from 23.3 million in 2018 to 40.8 million by 2023, according to estimates from Kagan, a media research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence.

"The steep upward trend of due to 'cord-cutting' is not surprising given the abundance of online video services on the market, although this could be a circular argument, with more companies jumping on the streaming video bandwagon in response to the growing broadband-only market," said Tony Lenoir, Senior Kagan Research Analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Kagan expects the segment of broadband homes without a traditional multichannel subscription to account for nearly one-third of U.S. households in the next five years.

Findings show that over-the-top (OTT) products, whether subscription video on demand, direct-to-consumer or virtual multichannel, are offered at competitive prices which is a major factor fueling cord-cutting in a context of affordability. Other reasons for the strong projection of broadband-only growth include the ease of joining and cancelling online streaming services. They typically do not require contracts.

S&P Global Market Intelligence