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Traditional TV 'past the point of no return' as viewership hits record low

M

Mikey Radio

This comes from Yahoo Finance, so take it as you will...

Traditional TV 'past the point of no return' as viewership hits record low​

finance.yahoo.com

Traditional TV 'past the point of no return' as viewership hits record low

Traditional TV viewing is falling off a cliff as media companies scramble to reset strategies.
finance.yahoo.com finance.yahoo.com
According to the latest data from Nielsen, linear TV viewership fell below 50% in July for the first time. Broadcast and cable each hit a new low of 20% and 29.6% of total TV usage, respectively, to combine for a linear television total of 49.6%.
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"Linear TV [is] past the point of no return," Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen wrote in a note to clients on Monday, adding the revenue line for cable and satellite operators is "probably permanently negative" as pricing fails to drive upside while TV advertising growth stalls.
"We think the metrics for linear TV are all bad," the analyst continued. "Ad revenue across our media network coverage fell 13% on average in Q2, down from -8% in 1Q, which included the Super Bowl.
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Strikes aren't helping either. With no new scripted programming this fall except for daytime soaps, only live sports (NFL, World Series) will get high ratings. Soon, if not already, the hottest 'shows' in entertainment will be from YouTubers. The Barbie movie did gross a billion worldwide, however.
 
It's also a case where viewers' tastes have changed. Many people don't want to be stuck watching TV shows only when they're scheduled for broadcast. Rather, they want to see what they want, when they want it, which means they're streaming or watching on-demand. "TV" also no longer means huddled up on the couch with the family...It's streaming to cell phones and tablets while in the car, while on break at work, etc. Long gone are the days when people would rush home on a Thursday night to watch the lineup of their favorite sitcoms and follow episodes of nighttime TV dramas from one week to the next to see what happens. Now they spend a Sunday night "binge watching" an entire season in a few hours. Some don't watch full episodes of the Tonight Show or SNL on NBC when they're broadcast, but they'll later watch just the comedy bits or interviews they're interested in seeing via Youtube or Peacock. The list goes on...
 
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I think it's also a matter of content- so many traditional cable outlets are multi-hour marathons of shows that are also available on one or two other channels (also presumably airing in marathon blocks at different times- think of how many different channels the various "Law & Orders" are on at this point). The advent of on-demand was already a pretty big nail in the coffin, but the rise of FAST channels has made so many more shows available that you can't get via any cable package.
 
I was having some work done on my car one day last week when I encountered what might be the ultimate of what you're talking about: a pluto channel that shows nothing but the Bob Barker years of "The Price Is Right" 24/7. And I think pluto has other channels like this, such as one that carries nothing but "Cheers." Who could watch any of this nonstop? Now if I knew when a favorite episode (for example, "The Answer Is...Cliff Clavin") was going to be on...
But I can't watch "The Price Is Right" for 24 seconds, let alone 24 hours. Surely this is not the future of television.
 
bpatrick said:
But I can't watch "The Price Is Right" for 24 seconds, let alone 24 hours. Surely this is not the future of television.
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It may be for some. I have an elderly relative who used to be quite active, but as they've grown older they basically watch 3 things including the Game Show Network, Family Feud anywhere she can find it, and local news. If there was a 24/7 Family Feud channel (which there may be), I'm guessing she'd be among the first to tune in and would be loyal to it.
 
bpatrick said:
I was having some work done on my car one day last week when I encountered what might be the ultimate of what you're talking about: a pluto channel that shows nothing but the Bob Barker years of "The Price Is Right" 24/7. And I think pluto has other channels like this, such as one that carries nothing but "Cheers." Who could watch any of this nonstop? Now if I knew when a favorite episode (for example, "The Answer Is...Cliff Clavin") was going to be on...
But I can't watch "The Price Is Right" for 24 seconds, let alone 24 hours. Surely this is not the future of television.
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You miss the point of those channels. They're not intended to be watched for long stretches, just an episode or two when the viewer sees the channel on the Pluto channel guide. TPIR and Cheers were and still are very popular. I'm a big fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which has TWO channels on another FAST service, Sling Free. I check to see which movie is being riffed on, and watch the episode I found especially funny. But that's it, one episode, not a night-long veg-out on the sofa. I'd enjoy a "Barney Miller" or "Mary Tyler Moore Show" free channel the same way.
 
bpatrick said:
I was having some work done on my car one day last week when I encountered what might be the ultimate of what you're talking about: a pluto channel that shows nothing but the Bob Barker years of "The Price Is Right" 24/7. And I think pluto has other channels like this, such as one that carries nothing but "Cheers." Who could watch any of this nonstop? Now if I knew when a favorite episode (for example, "The Answer Is...Cliff Clavin") was going to be on...
But I can't watch "The Price Is Right" for 24 seconds, let alone 24 hours. Surely this is not the future of television.
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Yes, the "binge" channels do feel a lot like the fatal rut cable has fallen into, but there are other curated channels that feature, say "Cheers" at certain times alongside "Fraiser" and "Becker" (which isn't widely available anymore), and I've found UK shows "Taskmaster" and "Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit" on FAST channels, shows that aren't available ANYWHERE else stateside for free AFAIK.
Mikey Radio said:
It may be for some. I have an elderly relative who used to be quite active, but as they've grown older they basically watch 3 things including the Game Show Network, Family Feud anywhere she can find it, and local news. If there was a 24/7 Family Feud channel (which there may be), I'm guessing she'd be among the first to tune in and would be loyal to it.
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Not only is there a modern Steve Harvey "Family Feud" FAST channel, but recently a "Classic Family Feud" FAST channel launched, and I've seen episodes featuring Dawson, Combs and Anderson.
 
Mikey Radio said:
It may be for some. I have an elderly relative who used to be quite active, but as they've grown older they basically watch 3 things including the Game Show Network, Family Feud anywhere she can find it, and local news. If there was a 24/7 Family Feud channel (which there may be), I'm guessing she'd be among the first to tune in and would be loyal to it.
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There is one, on Xumo, which also offers 24/7 TPIR and Deal or No Deal channels, plus many more that run a variety of old game shows, either on a traditional one-show-at-a-time schedule or mini-binges of a half dozen episodes each.
 
bpatrick said:
But I can't watch "The Price Is Right" for 24 seconds, let alone 24 hours. Surely this is not the future of television.
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Even if I sat in the new Glendale audience for TPIR, George Gray wouldn't call my name. I heard somewhere that they interview audience members in line, and George gets a small list of people of who he could 'come on down'. That it's not a random pick of everyone in the audience. The small list always seems to be the "caffeinated on 5 shots of espresso/energy drink" crowd. I can watch 1980s Price and see wholehearted, American people of all ages playing the games. Without screaming or playing 'snow angel' on the studio floor (what Barker would call the 'Samoans'). Bob making comments about contestant's shirts or personalities, military experience, etc. just to get to know them on a personal level...nowadays with Drew, it's 'go go go' to not break that 38-min. running time limit. "Next prize please, George."

I'm glad that Wheel and Jeopardy! haven't gone that way. But many of the primetime game shows have also fallen for the 'Price' model.

Pluto TV also has non-stop court show channels, including for Judge Judy. A lot of the early shows (late '90s) are being aired as well.
 
I see this as a parallel to radio. The technology has gotten better but the product is much worse.

(And you could argue that digital technologies in both mediums is not as reliable as analog was in the 50's.)
 
crainbebo said:
Even if I sat in the new Glendale audience for TPIR, George Gray wouldn't call my name. I heard somewhere that they interview audience members in line, and George gets a small list of people of who he could 'come on down'. That it's not a random pick of everyone in the audience. The small list always seems to be the "caffeinated on 5 shots of espresso/energy drink" crowd. I can watch 1980s Price and see wholehearted, American people of all ages playing the games. Without screaming or playing 'snow angel' on the studio floor (what Barker would call the 'Samoans'). Bob making comments about contestant's shirts or personalities, military experience, etc. just to get to know them on a personal level...nowadays with Drew, it's 'go go go' to not break that 38-min. running time limit. "Next prize please, George."

I'm glad that Wheel and Jeopardy! haven't gone that way. But many of the primetime game shows have also fallen for the 'Price' model.

Pluto TV also has non-stop court show channels, including for Judge Judy. A lot of the early shows (late '90s) are being aired as well.
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The shows don’t “fall” for any model. The network determines how many commercial minutes - and thus program minutes - there are. It’s not a Price is Right model.

And Wheel…well, it packs in a multitude of in-show sponsorships that eat time. Whatever round or wedge is sponsored by whom, the plug after the bonus round…it’s not technically commercial inventory of course, but they have limited game time to make way for those plugs.
 
No big surprise. Radio has been living in this world for more than 10 years. People want what they want, and everybody wants different things. The way this works is you budget accordingly. All those layoffs you used to hear about in radio are now happening in TV. I was advising people on this just the other day. If you're looking for work in TV, you don't want to be in linear, because they're not hiring. It becomes more complicated.
 
Yes I agree - TV is getting like radio. All Impractical Jokers on TruTV, all Ridiculousness on MTV, etc. On my Samsung TV it comes with a bunch of streamed channels (free) each one seemingly dedicated to re-runs of a particular show. Here in Boston channel 7, after NBC yanked their affiliation, went to basically an all Family Feud format with long local news blocks. Seems to work for them - last I knew their newscasts were beating the NBC O&O and maybe the Fox25 too.
 
spt87 said:
Here in Boston channel 7, after NBC yanked their affiliation, went to basically an all Family Feud format with long local news blocks. Seems to work for them - last I knew their newscasts were beating the NBC O&O and maybe the Fox25 too.
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So...GSN with a local news department? ;)
 
As stated above, on demand is how we want things these days...however, that being said network programming also hasn't been great for many years either.
 
crainbebo said:
Strikes aren't helping either. With no new scripted programming this fall except for daytime soaps, only live sports (NFL, World Series) will get high ratings. Soon, if not already, the hottest 'shows' in entertainment will be from YouTubers. The Barbie movie did gross a billion worldwide, however.
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This is a comparison to streaming, though. The streamers are also being struck by the WGA and SAG.
 
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