A new TV season begins Monday, and with it, probably, another season of linear ratings declines for the broadcast networks. That’s not exactly news: Nielsen numbers have been on the wane for years on ad-supported TV (both broadcast and cable), and the continued proliferation of viewing options — hello, Disney+ and Apple TV+ and HBO Max and Peacock — and shrinking number of people with cable or satellite subscriptions likely means the slide won’t suddenly reverse itself in 2019-20.
Explanations for the decline usually come down to “cord-cutting” and “streaming,” which make both intuitive sense and are backed up by data. That’s not the whole story, however: Networks themselves have adapted to the streaming era, as have viewers, who are now accustomed to having full seasons of shows at nearly any time — something that wasn’t the norm just five years ago.
The Hollywood Reporter looked at some trends both in ratings for the past half-decade and in the way consumers get their TV content. The numbers help put the decline of on-air ratings in context.
In fall 2014, according to an annual survey by Leichtman Research Group, 84 percent of TV households in the United States subscribed to some sort of pay-TV service — either cable, satellite or telco. Nielsen estimated there were 116.4 TV households in the country at the time, which equals about 97.8 million homes receiving TV signals via cable or satellite. Fewer than half of TV households had a streaming subscription to either Netflix, Hulu or Amazon’s Prime Video.
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I believe a big part of this is Gaming and Gamers .
Video Games and those mostly males that are consumed by them are also affecting Sport, Attendance at Sporting Events, Golf, Night Clubs, Bars, and much more .
A huge sea change is taking place right before your eyes, you will not believe the changes that take place by 2025 .
Believe it or not this phenomena will even affect Employment, Dating and Marriage, all will be way down over the next ten years or so .
Youngish Males will soon find it very difficult to function in the same kind of society you grew up in and that behavior will change all of our lives .
Get ready to have basically non functioning single Male Children hanging around your house residing in the basement for decades to come Mom and Dad .
Time to do something now before it is too late .
Surprise,surprise to many of you mature readers here. I prefer radio to cable tv in 2019 and being owned by the cable companies. We dropped Shaw nearly three months ago and just watch a little Netflix at night. Life without commercials and not becoming a tv vegetable. Gaming and gamers is a whole different world.
The networks are blaming the internet but it’s just part of the story. The global corporations that were allowed to take over North American media have cheapened the product. Half hour shows that used to have five or six minutes worth of ads prior to consolidation now have doubled to ten minutes. Ads are now cut directly into the program content to make them even more intrusive.
Reality shows that were produced by independent producers have been taken in-house and budgets slashed.