Much of the news around cord cutting in the United States is biased toward data derived from urban and suburban subscribers, but the trend does not apply in exactly the same way to rural regions, according to a survey commissioned by Innovative Systems, a software and technology company based in Mitchell, S.D.

“For the second year in a row, 82 percent of North American rural video consumers surveyed are still subscribing to a traditional video service provider,” the company says in a press release about the study. “The number of rural homes that are getting all of their video over the internet is a modest 4 percent.”

Cronin Communications conducted the survey, which included approximately 400 homes. The research indicates that rural demographics are much different to other areas since people tend to be older, there are fewer children in the home, and there is less access to broadcast channels by antennae.

The research also shows that although the overall subscription rate remained the same at 82 percent, the number of homes that have cut the video cord increased from 1 percent to 4 percent in 2017. There was also a 3 percent increase in homes adding TV service. Independent telecommunications companies gained 8 percent of the video market share compared to 2016, while the satellite providers lost a combined 11 percent, according to the report.

Other findings included that video streaming increased to 34 percent of homes surveyed (from 23 percent in 2016), and the average number of hours per week increased to 9.73 (from 7.59 in 2016). Around 20 percent of respondents were keen to have access to a free on‐demand service for catch‐up viewing, and 16 percent of video subscribers indicated they would move to a cloud‐based DVR service if it were available to them.