Cord cutters sign up for streaming at five times the normal rate after cancellation

Nearly one-third of U.S. cord cutters signed up for a new streaming service within a month of canceling pay TV, according to estimates from Antenna.

The company found that 31% added a streaming service during that period and signed up at five times the normal rate.

Antenna released the findings through its “Cord Cutter Insights” data, which tracks consumers leaving traditional multichannel video programming distributors, or MVPDs, and virtual MVPDs.

Most consumers already had experience with subscription streaming before canceling pay TV. Antenna estimated that 72% of traditional cord cutters, defined as consumers leaving an MVPD, had at least one premium subscription video-on-demand service before cancellation.

Among digital cord cutters leaving virtual pay-TV services such as YouTube TV or Sling TV, 84% already had at least one premium SVOD subscription.

In the first quarter of 2026, about 14% of traditional cord cutters subscribed to the ad-free Paramount+ Premium plan during the first month after canceling pay TV, the highest penetration among plans measured by Antenna. Netflix Premium followed at 11.5%, while Peacock Premium and Netflix Standard each reached 9.5%.

Ad-free subscriptions accounted for the four plans with the highest penetration among traditional cord cutters and six of the top 10 plans overall.

Antenna’s data also indicated that traditional cord cutters were not disproportionately concentrated among lower-income households. Among people who canceled an MVPD between January 2024 and March 2026, 61% had household incomes of $100,000 or less, the same share Antenna reported for the general population.

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“Cord Cutter Insights” tracks where consumers go after canceling pay TV, how quickly they subscribe to other services and which plans they select.