More Streaming Than Cabling
This is an alert, not a drill: More people are streaming video services than have a cable subscription. A survey by Fluent LLC (May 2017) found that 67% of US internet users watch or have access to a streaming service, while just 61% have cable in their homes. 
Netflix is the top among millennials and older people. Amazon Prime was a distant second. Is this a huge dramatic shift in the technology marketplace with ramifications throughout connected households? Well, yes and no. The No. 1 reason cited for streaming content was cost. The second reason was that the streaming service offered content on any device. Original content for nearly 1/5th of all respondents was also a strong draw.
Cable cutting has been a growing trend, and now that the lines have crossed, you will see more pull toward the low-cost provider. For some, the over-the-air digital channels of broadcast affiliates and a Netflix subscription are a strong replacement for hundreds of un-watched cable channels. But don’t count cable out just yet because you still need a strong internet signal to pull in all the streaming services—and cable is the best option to-date.
Soon you may see a cable company throw in the channels for free with a long, expensive internet package.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.