According to a recent study done by GfK, “TV and the Cordless Americans,” Cord Cutters and Cord Nevers are two different audiences and should not be viewed similarly when planning and buying media. However, both audiences should be considered if you’re aiming to reach Millennials, specifically males, as 34% of 18- to 34-year olds fall into one of these two categories.

Additional similarities between these two include a high propensity to stream heavily, low usage of newspapers and magazines, and heavy internet consumption. Also, both audiences tend to stay away from traditional TV.

When looking at differentiators, traditional radio consumption is the largest outlier, with Cord Cutters being heavy consumers and Cord Nevers falling into the light usage end of the spectrum. So if you’re aiming to target Millennials via traditional radio, you should consider whether your audience falls into one of these two categories, which could be a huge factor in the your campaign’s efficiency.

Further, this study aims to tell us that audiences are not easily defined as just a cord cutter versus a cord loyalist – there is a larger spectrum and each group consumes media differently.