TDG research
A new find “cord cheaters” are everywhere, in surprisingly large numbers. Almost one-fifth of subscription streamers use the passwords/credentials of someone outside their household.
“While it is widely acknowledged that ‘cord cheating’ is occurring, few comprehend how widespread the behavior has become,” noted Ft. Collins-based Michael Greeson, TDG Founder and Director of Research.
Whether offspring in a college dorm using a parent’s HBO account or an office-mate piggybacking on a Netflix account or a neighbor “borrowing” access to the Dish Sling TV service, it feels like “everyone’s doing it.”
In my experience, some networks are more concerned about this than others: certain premium cable networks just want a larger viewership and don’t much care who trades passwords; others consider it cheating. TDG’s point is that “content providers are losing substantial revenue by not enforcing more restrictive authentication procedures.”
More than 20% of adult broadband users that stream video from an online subscription service are ‘cord cheaters,’ the report says.
