Why Broadcast TV is Going The Way of the Dinosaur
By Anna Johnson on September 13th, 2010Recent research shows that U.S. television viewers are watching less ‘live’ television – i.e. live broadcast television – with 52 percent of their viewing time spent on live broadcast TV compared to online and time-shifting alternatives.
Based on a recent survey of 1,000 American consumers by market research firm Morpace, the research also shows that the younger people are, the less time they spend on live television.
Those in the 18-to-34-year-old demographic spend only 41 percent of their viewing time watching live television, versus those aged 55+ years who spend 64 percent of the time watching live TV.
I can tell you that in my household the amount of TV time (which probably isn’t a lot by most people’s standards) is even more skewed towards time-shifted television!
Two major forces are at work here: the huge growth in video content being made available by providers and in places other than traditional television and cable networks, and the growth in all kinds of devices to deliver that content.
According to Morpace, people are watching time-shifted television content in all kinds of ways, with some of the most popular live television alternatives and their associated percentage of viewing time as follows:
- DVDs: 14 percent of viewing time;
- Online programming (including streaming video from services such as Netflix): 13 percent of viewing time;
- Saved programs on DVRs: 12 percent
- On-demand cable: 6 percent.
A major reason for people abandoning live television is the availability of more alternative devices to display video content.
While 96 percent of respondents watch TVs, 59 percent use at least one other media-viewing device, including laptop computers (40 percent), desktop computers (36 percent), mobile phones (9 percent), dedicated media players (8 percent), netbooks (4 percent), and tablet computers (2 percent).
All of which means that if I was at television network I’d be worried, very worried! Fewer people are interested in watching television as it’s served up by the networks; they want to watch television content in their own time.
Sure, if you make money developing and selling content, you’re still in business. But if your business depends on selling ad space against specific shows being shown at specific times on specific devices… it’s time to switch channels. Fact is: fewer people want their live broadcast TV.
Source: Morpace, “Morpace Omnibus Report August 2010″, August 2010
