Hulu, not Netflix, appears to be driving the recent increase in cord-cutting, according to Corey Barrett, a senior media analyst at M Science.
Cord-cutting, long said to represent the demise of cable companies, is when customers eliminate paid TV from their service provider bundle. Barrett said a recent study from M Science shows the trend is on the rise.
"What really stood out to us was that [cord-cutting] was most pronounced among Hulu subscribers," Barrett told "Power Lunch" on Friday. "There's a misconception that Netflix is actively driving cord-cutting behavior."
The study found that Netflix subscribers eliminated their cable package at similar rates to the average consumer, while Hulu members saw a higher rate of cord-cutting.
The findings also identified Charter Communications as potentially a victim of the practice, "relative to Comcast," according to Barrett.
He called the practice "a generational shift" and warned disruption could grow in the coming years thanks to more nontraditional firms entering the field.
"As a function of that, you have players coming from outside the existing pay-TV ecosystem that are likely much more disruptive to the current ecosystem and drive heavier cord-cutting than what we've seen," Barrett said.
Disclosure: CNBC parent company NBCUniversal is an investor in Hulu. Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC and CNBC.com.
WATCH: Streaming wars will be won or lost by viewer experience and content -Hulu CEO
