Analyst Jamal Carnette of Motley Fool thinks that any television executive looking at trends in viewing device usage should be quaking in their boots. We’re no sure.
But we certainly believe that execs should be paying close attention to the trends.
Carnette was refering to a Nielsen look at how consumers consume video content in this time of device proliferation.
As new mobile, OTT or computer based methods of viewing content are adopted, the almost inevitable result is that traditional sitting-in-front-of-the-television viewing decreases.
Carnette noted that the amount of content isn’t decreasing, just the amount consumed in the traditional manner.
Naturally, the audience doing most of the straying from the traditional is the younger audience broadcast television needs to cultivate in order to continue in business in a healthy manner.
Carnette observed, “Demographically, advertisers pay more for younger audiences, which may be a reason why advertisers have recently been shifting their ad spend to Internet-based options. For television broadcasters and content providers desperate for ad-based revenue, the double-whammy of falling viewership, alongside a less-profitable viewer base, could pressure financial results going forward. An even more worrisome scenario would be if Internet-literate millennials continue these viewing habits and are a canary in the coal mine for future adults.”
RBR-TVBR observation: We believe broadcast execs are absolutely aware of all of this, and did not require a special report to be let in on the secret.
If any of them have children of their own, they need look no further than their own living room.
Broadcasters are aware and are acting.
As CBS’s Lew Moonves has observed on any number of occasions, it’s not where consumers watch video, it’s what video they watch that’s important.
As long as a person is watching a CBS program, Moonves does not care at all what they’re watching it on, as long as CBS is monetizing the viewing session.
Our daughter is heading off to college in a little over a month. Like 99.99% of her incoming freshman colleagues, she does not know a world without digital devices.
She is not taking a television set to college, since she can watch what she wants in other ways.
But it is a virtual lock that one of the programs she will find a way to watch is CW’s “Supernatural.” She loves that show, but didn’t find out about it until it had been on the air for a few years. She’s used tools available to watch every episode, and she will very likely watch all the new episodes.
So it’s all about creating great content and making sure it is paid for. That’s the challenge, and we are certain broadcasters are both aware and working on maximizing their all-platform strategy.
