Cord cutting seems to be the way of the future. Cable providers and networks are constantly hemorrhaging subscribers as millions of people cut the cord and opt for services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and others.
Even though millions of people are opting to save money and cut the cord there are many millions more who just keep on paying the status quo. People who want MSNBC end up paying for ESPN and ESPN 2, or vice versa. People want HBO so they must also subscribe Showtime. The cable networks are literally driving customers away en masse because they force these bundling packages down everyone’s throats, and they do this because it’s still insanely profitable…for now.
Just how profitable is the pracitice of bundling? According to Streaming Observer, ESPN is making BILLIONS OF DOLLARS each year because of this practice:
A recent survey found that 53% of people don’t care whether or not their TV package includes live sports channels, like ESPN and ESPN2 which are included in nearly every basic pay TV package.
According to the most recent estimates, 87,349,000 people have ESPN and ESPN2 in their pay TV packages, and those channels make up $8.11 of a pay TV bill (ESPN is $7.21 per subscriber per month, while ESPN2 is charged at a rate of $0.90).
Given that 53% of pay TV subscribers don’t care if they have ESPN or other live sports channels, that means 46,294,970 of ESPN/ESPN2’s subscribers don’t really want the channels. At $8.11 per subscriber, that’s $375,452,207 people are shelling out every single month despite not wanting those channels. That’s $4.5 billion a year!
What kind of fucking world are we living in where a company like ESPN can make $4.5 billion each year off people who don’t even care or want the service? That’s 4.5 billion reasons that the current cable status quo is broken, and 4.5 billion reasons that cord cutting will eventually tear down the cable service provider establishment as we know it.
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If you’re skeptical of the data above you can check out the findings in full HERE. They cite multiple studies, all of which show subscribers are willing to ditch ESPN if it means they can save a few bucks on their monthly cable bill. After sifting through the data I’m convinced the future of ESPN is a lot darker than most people realize. (h/t Streaming Observer)