Cord Cutting, Virtual MVPDs Growing, Say eMarketer, Kagan

Cord cutters are expected to climb 33 percent this year to 33 million, and U.S. adults watching traditional pay TV are expected to decline 3.8 percent to 186.7 million, eMarketer said Tuesday. It said with a number of operators having integrated Netflix into their channel lineups, more such pay-TV/over-the-top partnerships are expected and they -- plus other strategies -- could help slow the pay-TV losses though they won't stop them. Kagan said virtual MVPD revenue should hit $2.82 billion this year and top $7.77 billion by 2022. It said virtual MVPD revenue per subscriber is about a third of traditional cable services but is growing and expected to top $37 a month this year, up 19 percent from 2017.