·Senior Reporter
·2 min read
Americans cutting back on their streaming subscriptions are turning to Netflix (NFLX) first, according to a new survey.
The survey from Vorhaus Advisors, which included responses from 2,000 people in the US over 18, found that among those who canceled a streaming service in the past three months, Netflix was the "most frequently mentioned" service, followed by Disney's Hulu (DIS) and Amazon Prime (AMZN).
The survey findings come at an inflection point for media, and Netflix is particularly in the crosshairs as it has sought to jumpstart subscriber growth in recent months and years through a crackdown on password-sharing.
"When you're the biggest, you're going to be hit really hard with cancellations," Vorhaus Advisors CEO Mike Vorhaus said on Tuesday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Tech Conference in San Francisco. "The problem for them in the United States is that everybody who has conflicts today, plus everybody who has ever had to cancel, adds up pretty much to the total number of people that would consider ever joining a streaming service. They've already said no to Netflix once, so now there's that contest to get them back and that's quite a struggle."
Though Netflix has its challenges, there's more than enough cord-cutting to go around right now. The data shows that 12% of paid TV subscribers are "very likely to cut the cord in the next year," and those who are most likely to do so are between the ages of 18 and 34.
About 47% of people who cancel services do so to save money.
Still, for traditional TV outlets, digital video is creating additional pressure. Every day, 2 out of 5 Americans watch videos on the internet, the Vorhaus survey revealed. Across all age categories, there are increases in daily digital video viewing between 7% and 10%.
In part, what's opening the door to this kind of transition is a change in storytelling, Vorhaus told the audience.
"The idea that a story has to be scripted, that the story has to have big actors in it, that the story must have a budget, and a beginning, middle, and end — the world has changed," he said.
"With all due respect, the story isn't 'When Harry Met Sally' anymore," Vorhaus added. "I remember when people in Hollywood were saying that 'The Matrix' wasn't a story. So I think the people who make money will be the ones who are able to figure out what storytelling means."
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Allie Garfinkle is a Senior Tech Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @agarfinks and on LinkedIn.
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