Own an iPad and thinking that maybe it's time to cut the pay-TV cord? You're not alone, a new survey says.
IPad owners and people thinking about buying the fast-selling tablet are far more 
likely to be actively considering cutting or trimming the pay-TV cord, reports The Diffusion Group. Part of that may be because the tablet has loads of video, including content from Netflix, Hulu Plus, the iTunes store, ABC, PBS and others. Part of it may be the tablet's ease of use over WiFi and 3G networks, and part of it may be that many tablet users are simply early adopters of technology, exactly the demographic most likely to cut the cord.
TDG said 33.9 percent of iPad-ites are to varying degrees likely to cancel their PayTV service in the next six months. The survey found that among people considering buying an iPad, 13.5 percent are prone to cord-cutting. Both numbers significantly outstrip the number of cord cutters among average adult broadband users, which is less than 10 percent.
TDG said nearly 13 percent of iPad owners are highly likely to drop pay-TV services, twice the rate of iPad Intenders (6.4 percent) and three times the rate among average adult broadband users (4.3 percent).
"Despite the fact that cord-cutting remains more widely discussed than carried out, forward-looking research continues to accumulate in support of the hypothesis that specific groups of consumers are quickly warming to the idea," notes Michael Greeson, TDG founding partner and director of research. "Certainly this applies to iPad Owners and Intenders."
iPad owners and those who say they intend to buy an iPad also tend to say they're highly likely to trim their pay-TV services as well, with 27.4 percent of iPad owners, and 14.2 percent of intenders saying they'll trim services in the next six months. Only 10 percent of average adult broadband users are likely to trim pay-TV services, TDG found.
"Many new video purveyors such as ivi.TV and Sezmi are looking to rapidly achieve mainstream status by casting the widest net possible with little in the way of targeting, outside of general 'bad times' messaging," Greeson said. "It is TDG's belief that it may be more lucrative to focus on specific user groups who are more inclined toward anti-incumbent behavior, a descriptor that certainly applies to iPad Owners and Intenders."
For more:
- see this release
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