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

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Traditional TV viewing is falling off a cliff.

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%.

Time spent streaming (via a television) increased 2.9% in July compared with June, according to the data, to reach a record of 38.7% of total TV usage. YouTube (GOOGL), Netflix (NFLX), and Amazon Prime Video (AMZN) all saw month-over-month viewership increases of 5.6%, 4.2%, and 5%, respectively, in July.

"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.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/traditional-tv-past-the-point-of-no-return-as-viewership-hits-record-low-191100458.html

I'm going to cancel cable soon and go to streaming service as soon as I get my internet speed upped.

[Permanut]

1. Been using Roku for several months.

Navigation is a little clunky, but I'm betting next versions will be better.

[JCMach1]

2. OTA is still going to be there and if anything once streamers start gouging

People will prune providers.

[anciano]

3. Hmm...

interesting numbers 🤔.....

[TheBlackAdder]

4. Verizon kept jacking up their cable packages, and forcing FOX, OAN and Newsmax. No A la carte.

.

FOX did a rate hike, along with Verizon in general, so I cut cable and just went internet & phone.

$90/mo after taxes for 1GB speed. I don't miss cable TV at all.

The rate hike that forced me to cut service was a jump from $225 to $287 a month.

.

[Cha]

5. I just do streaming Prime vid, netfilx,

and DU.

That's as much News and Entertainment that I need. And, it's been going on for Years!

[Demsrule86]

6. We ran streaming on 300...hell the kids made it work on 30...you can also use ethernet over

electrical and it makes it like your tv is plugged into your router.

[Bettie]

7. For us, even with a bunch of streaming services

cable is a LOT more.

[ananda]

8. I've been internet only for the past two years.

I only stream tv shows.

I haven't missed cable either.

[womanofthehills]

17. I haven't had a TV for over 10 yrs

I'd rather be online.

[Sympthsical]

9. I actually forgot broadcast tv existed

Been streaming only for probably eight or nine years now.

Smart TVs or $25 Chromecast on the non-smart ones. Everything can be selected and cast off the phone. Problem solved.

Cheaper, too. Currently paying $50/mo for all our stuff. Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Max, Disney+, and Showtime. I think that's all of it. Then an additional $10 for Spotify, because we're heavy music types. I think our internet itself is $60 for 1GB speed or something stupid like that.

So about $120/month for our total tv/internet situation. Feels reasonable.

[slightlv]

10. "Traditional TV" isn't offering anything worth watching

for the most part. How many reality shows can a person be expected to think are actually real? How soon we forget they only came about because of the first writer's strike.

Not that Direct TV is traditional tv, but even with them, all the stations do is rerun old and ancient tv programs.... and the same thrust of movies run every weekend, only on different channels, as they've all been divvied up and owned by a few select individuals.

You really don't dare get involved in the few shows that (at least) start out on a major station. If they don't shake the world and make more gobs of money that anything else, the shows are cancelled in the first season.

Frankly, I enjoy getting into bed at night and streaming an old SciFi Channel series. Until NBC bought them out, SciFi Channel had some good shows... like Sanctuary, Stargate, etc. Network execs took over, and half the time SyFy channel doesn't even broadcast a scifi show! At least, I've never been able to figure out the SciFi angle in XXX, Fast and the Furious, etc.

And don't even get me started on the Science channel! ARGH!!!!!

[Kingofalldems]

11. I watch Family Guy and that is pretty much it.

[hunter]

12. I happen to know the exact date we quit "linear" television.

January 27, 2012. It was the finale of Chuck. That was the last broadcast television we watched. We'd quit cable television years before.

I'd quit television news and opinion shortly after 9/11/2001. I couldn't take any more hyperbole, speculation, and propaganda.

My wife was never a fan of television news and opinion. We read most of our news, and listen to some on our local public radio station.

We only watched video cassettes and DVDs for a few years, mostly I found those in thrift stores. Then one of our kids, home from college, set us up with Netflix.

I've entirely lost any tolerance I once had for television commercials so the free streaming services don't interest me. I tried Roku for one movie but that was enough. I deleted the app.

It's ironic that when I was young I wanted to be an electronics engineer, probably in television. Two years into college I changed my major to biology. My mom worked in radio mostly and sometimes in television.

My adult children and their cousins don't pay any attention at all to traditional "linear" television or radio. It simply doesn't exist in their universe. They've never had cable or satellite, their televisions have never been programmed to receive over-the-air broadcasts, and they use their automobile sound systems exclusively as bluetooth speakers for their cell phones.

I'll pay to make commercials go away or I won't watch at all if I can't do that or I don't think it's worth the money.

[Initech]

13. I honestly haven't watched broadcast TV for like 5 years.

And quite frankly I don’t miss it one bit.

[Iggo]

14. Me, either, other than the odd ballgame.

My brother still pays for cable. If he didn’t, I wouldn’t miss it. (His kids would though. They have soooooooo much on the DVR from the kid channels…lol.)

[yonder]

15. More Survivor, Bachelorette and Paid Advertisements!

Now we're talking.

[Sneederbunk]

16. Going the way of terrestrial radio.

[RainCaster]

18. We only watch TV for 3 things

1. News
2. Baseball
3. Football

[Deminpenn]

19. Streaming isn't profitable

It has been cheap to entice viewers up until now, but their prices are going to increase soon to cable like levels. Like broadcast TV, cheapest tier streaming is going to come with ads.

I have cable on one TV for sports mostly, but my other TVs just have a regular antenna. With the demise of regional sports networks, I won't be surprised if some local pro teams return to local broadcast TV stations. In Pittsburgh, the local pro soccer team and DIII college football are now on a sister station of KDKA (CBS).

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/streaming-services-now-cost-more-082024739.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

[Bucky]

20. 49% of US eyeballs ain't "dying"

It's lost it's Monopoly for absorbing Americans' attention. That's what happens when new technology enters the media industry.

They're still breaking billions. You can't call that close to dead

[Vinca]

21. Not a surprise. The programs in prime time are real stinkers.