A Generation of Cable Cutters
Digital marketing and consumer’s digital demands are constantly evolving. One of most commonly bucked traditions in today’s digital consumer base is the need for cable television. The trend is leaning, especially for many Millennials, to ditch the expensive cable package and opt-in for digital streaming services like Netflix, Hulu or even the newest addition, Seeso.
There are a lot of articles and blog content on how to market to Millennials (we even wrote one!) but if you take only one constant theme about this group of consumers, it’s that they revel in finding alternatives to the expected. The constant complaint when it comes to traditional cable or satellite service is the lack of flexibility when it comes to network, size and cost.
Digital services are the epitome of flexible. Consumers pay as small as $9.99/month for seemingly endless content, whenever, wherever, on whatever device they choose so long as there’s an internet connection. And even that, is negotiable. Netflix recently released the ability to download content and watch offline.
What’s the lesson here? It’s not that you should drop all your traditional cable advertising or even that cable/satellite services are going anywhere, anytime soon. It’s that companies have to maintain flexibility in order to support their base and grow it with time. Instead of listening to the concerns of so many consumers, cable companies have dug their heals in the sand and resisted change. This has opened the door to an endless stream of competitors and met the needs of an increasingly important consumer group.
As in all things digital, it’ll be interesting to watch as how the cable conglomerates will respond to this new demand in their market. Will they take the challenge head on and re-think their approach to streaming and package flexibility or will players like Netflix and most recently YouTube TV step in? Time will tell.