Americans Are Moving Faster Than Ever Away From Traditional TV

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It's actually kinda funny to watch the industry scramble like crazy trying to deal with this. They are like chickens with their heads cut off.

At the same time, more homes turned to online video, with 40 percent of U.S. homes subscribing to a streaming service such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video or Hulu compared with 36 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to Nielsen. Netflix is by far the most popular streaming service, in 36 percent of all U.S. homes, and Amazon Instant Video is in 13 percent of homes.
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Steve, I'll say that after reading your comment for the first time ever I had the thought "Hmm, I've never actually seen a chicken with its head cut off, do they really run around like that? I'll have to look for videos."

Thanks.
 
“It’s hard to ignore our belief that technology is disrupting viewer consumption of linear network programming,” Nathanson wrote in a recent research note.
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would that be from the N. S. sherlock research institute by any chance?
 
Ultima99 said:
do they really run around like that?.
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as someone who grew up on a farm.. yes. yes they do.

was a trip the first time i used the axe and it started running around afterwards till it finally flopped over and stopped :eek:
 
This has actually been a huge issue for advertisers as well because you can't advertise on Netflix. Cable programming is the best because the set top box tells you exactly who's watching what. Broadcast TV is also not great because rating measurements are not that accurate.

They'll find a way. Where ever there are throngs of people advertisers will find a way to insert their product marketing. I'm sure it'll come to Netflix too.
 
mastaBlasta said:
This has actually been a huge issue for advertisers as well because you can't advertise on Netflix. Cable programming is the best because the set top box tells you exactly who's watching what. Broadcast TV is also not great because rating measurements are not that accurate.

They'll find a way. Where ever there are throngs of people advertisers will find a way to insert their product marketing. I'm sure it'll come to Netflix too.
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Stay out of Netflix or I will stop subscribing.
 
It makes sense to me: watching the shows I like at my own time, place, and method is much better than watching a show when they say and on what device they mandate. Duh, freedom. My parents (retired) are even looking into that side of things. They just got a FireTV box. My dad was disappointed that there wasn't more free offerings, though.
 
mastaBlasta said:
This has actually been a huge issue for advertisers as well because you can't advertise on Netflix. Cable programming is the best because the set top box tells you exactly who's watching what. Broadcast TV is also not great because rating measurements are not that accurate.

They'll find a way. Where ever there are throngs of people advertisers will find a way to insert their product marketing. I'm sure it'll come to Netflix too.
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Advertising has some advantages since it puts more money into the programs ... it has to be balanced to keep subscriber costs down and minimize the intrusiveness of the ads ... without any direct advertising we would just see an increase in product placement in the programs ... hopefully the industry can find the right mix for high quality high budget programming without turning the internet into the broadcast networks ;)
 
Hence why Net Neutrality is a necessity, because the networks will try and force the ISPs to clamp down on Netflix via bandwidth restrictions.
 
I just dropped cable and saved $135/month. Now I only use Comcast to access the internet to stream from Amazon Prime and Sling. I will miss a few of the cable channels, but the cost was just not worth it. Now if they will hurry up and run the fiber in my neighborhood so I can drop Comcast for good.
 
Washington Post Article said:
Adults watched an average of four hours and 51 minutes of live TV each day in the fourth quarter of 2014, down 13 minutes from the same quarter of 2013.
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:eek: :eek: :eek:


What is wrong with these people? Almost 5 hours a day!? What kind of loser, brain rotting couch potatoes do I share this country with?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a well written show every now and then, but 5 hours a day??? That's 35 hours a week. Almost a freaking full time job! Do these people really have nothing better to do with their time?

I wonder what my average daily TV watching is:

Lets see... Right now I am following Better Call Saul. It's an hour long once a week, but I never catch it live. Once my MythTV DVR is done with it, the ads are stripped out, and it's a 45 minute show.

I also usually watch the Daily Show because it is amusing to hear his take on the news I've heard on the radio throughout the day. Again, rarely live. It's a half an hour with ads, I'm guessing 20 minutes with the ads taken out. It's on 4 days a week.

That's it.

So in a given week that's 125 minutes of TV. Well, actually less, cause Jon Stewart takes a shit ton of vacation, but lets say 125 minutes.

That's just less than 18 minutes a day. I don't even want to calculate how much money this winds up being per hour based on my cable rate. If it weren't for my fiance and stepson I wouldn't subscribe at all.

Now, I haven't included my online streaming use in this. I tend to stream a movie once or twice a month, and I am slowly making my way through the latest season of House of Cards on Netflix (Don't have time for binge watching anymore), and I regularly watch Doctor Who with the stepson on Netflix as well.

So lets say another hour a week on average on House of cards and another 3 episodes on average of Doctor Who a week until we catch up with live, so that brings the total between TV AND Streaming (if including the 1.5 movies per month) to an average of 42 minutes per day.

Much more than I thought, and this number will dive sharply once we've finished Season 3 of House of Cards, once the first season of Better Call Saul ends, once we've finished Season 8 of Doctor Who and have to wait for more episodes and once Jon Stewart leaves the Daily Show. (No one can replace him. Well maybe John Oliver, but he won't)

As far as watching anything TV/Movie-like that's it for me though.

For me, those 42 minutes per day are a SHOCKINGLY high aberration just based on everything being available at once.

I can't imagine people just sitting on their butts watching TV for 5 hours a day. Just does not compute. I pity them. They must have horrible lives.
 
Wow, is that average correct? Does the average household watch ~5 hours of television per night? That seems high. Maybe I'm overworked, but between household chores, dinner and work, I'm lucky to have an hour of free time per work night.
 
Lifeguard1999 said:
I just dropped cable and saved $135/month. Now I only use Comcast to access the internet to stream from Amazon Prime and Sling. I will miss a few of the cable channels, but the cost was just not worth it. Now if they will hurry up and run the fiber in my neighborhood so I can drop Comcast for good.
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I would do this, but my fiance insists on having TV service (even though she - like me - barely watches it)

Verizon has gotten clever though. They have structured their plans such that if you drop TV but keep internet, you pay almost as much for just internet as you would for both. (Those slimy bastards)

Another reason why we need community internet, so we can kick the bundling cable idiots to the curb once and for all.

I could easily live without TV. Fast land based internet - however - is not an option.
 
OregonLAN said:
Wow, is that average correct? Does the average household watch ~5 hours of television per night? That seems high. Maybe I'm overworked, but between household chores, dinner and work, I'm lucky to have an hour of free time per work night.
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The thing is, the article doesn't even say "household". It says "adults", which assumes that this is not household total, but per person. (not sure how data is collected, and the article may be wrong, but that is what it says)

I agree with you. I get home from work by 6pm. 6:30 to 7 if I have to stop for groceries on the way. I assist kiddo with homework, cook dinner and eat. Clean up kitchen and get kiddo to bed. At this point I am usually too tired to do pretty much anything else. Maybe I will watch a half an hour of the Daily Show, or maybe I will just mess with my computer, and then it's time for bed.

Most TV watching happens on weekends, and then 99% of it is pre-DVR:ed with ads removed to save time.
 
That average is skewed and useless. How many of us put the TV on as background noise without really paying much attention to it? The moment I come home I put on Netflix and put on Archer/Office/Park and Rec or Arrested Development and let it play. Even before Netflix, I would just leave it on ESPN or CNN all the time.

Before anyone complains that I'm wasting electricity, I know I am, screw you, maybe if there wasn't shit music on the radio I'd use that instead.
 
Once you get used to being able to watch what you want when you want, it's tough to go back. Even when I do watch normal TV, it's usually with the "On Demand" function. We have the best normal cable package, but my wife still watches it via her PC and the Comcast app far more than actually on a television.
That average hour total seems awfully high. I wonder if it's misleading and is calculated by saying 2 adults watched 2 hours of TV, so the total is 4.
 
The communal digital TV antenna on our apartment block has gone faulty so we can't pick up over the air transmissions.

It's been quite amusing to see the retired folks where we live in a right panic as they can't get any TV whilst those of us under the age of 50 are wondering what all the fuss is about as we mostly watch Prime or Netflix etc.

I would say our TV watching is now 90% streaming 10% broadcast.
 
Comcast CEO said:
Gentlemen, we are losing traditional tv subscirbers. We can't blackmail streaming services for more money, nor can we block their traffic due to the damn FCC. What do we tell our shareholders?
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Comcast Board Lackie said:
We don't have to JJ...they are too busy watching Netflix.
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You may laugh now.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041480093 said:
I agree with you. I get home from work by 6pm. 6:30 to 7 if I have to stop for groceries on the way. I assist kiddo with homework, cook dinner and eat. Clean up kitchen and get kiddo to bed. At this point I am usually too tired to do pretty much anything else. Maybe I will watch a half an hour of the Daily Show, or maybe I will just mess with my computer, and then it's time for bed.

Most TV watching happens on weekends, and then 99% of it is pre-DVR:ed with ads removed to save time.
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Welcome to my world
 
Hi All

5 hours a night seems high to me. Unless they're using retirement homes for their data. Between my Wife, Kids & work I watch maybe 2 hours a week.

Even before we cut the cord which now has been 4 years we didn't watch that much TV.
I wonder what these folk are watching?
 
The headless folks running the networks never seem to consider the real issue. The average first run show has 1 minute of ad for every 2 minutes of show. Plus a irritating station ID bug somewhere on the screen, often with its own full time ad. Plus some networks add one or more bugs to promote twitter feeds or such. Plus pop up ads are become more common. How well did those go over on the Web?

Without resorting to DVR or other ad skipping tech, shows are just too hard to enjoy. Why spend a lot of money on cable just to be irritated? Netflix, or even buying seasons on disc is far cheaper AND more fun to watch.
 
I bet there are plenty of people on this forum who manage to play 5 hours of games every day.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041480071 said:
What is wrong with these people? Almost 5 hours a day!? What kind of loser, brain rotting couch potatoes do I share this country with?
.....
I can't imagine people just sitting on their butts watching TV for 5 hours a day. Just does not compute. I pity them. They must have horrible lives.
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Ever hear of welfare? Sit at home all day with the TV on. You might be passed out from drinking/drugs, but since the TV is on its still counted, and it's likely 15+ hours a day.

Just your tax money at work, paying people to watch TV.
 
DocSavage said:
I bet there are plenty of people on this forum who manage to play 5 hours of games every day.
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Hi All

I'm a huge flight sim guy but I only mange to play 3 to 4 hours a week. usually weekends when nobody's home.
 
DocSavage said:
I bet there are plenty of people on this forum who manage to play 5 hours of games every day.
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I imagine mostly younger folks.

I try to keep up with Counter-Strike (recently got GO mostly for nostalgic purposes).

Been playing the game for 16 years. I know it, and every level inside and out, as if they were real places. I used to be quite good at it, but these days I just can't keep up.

It requires constant practice to stay fresh. The most I've been able to get in in a week is 5-6 hours, since I picked it back up. I can't compete with folks whose Steam stats say they played 120 hours in the last two weeks.
 
Can't wait to ditch cable tv. Finally convinced the wife to drop cable tv because up here MA electric rates have gone up 40%. Going down there this week to turn in my equipment.
 
I dropped satellite not because of the other options available, but because of the programming. I enjoy documentaries and educational stuff. Of course some of the comedies and things (King of the Hill, Simpsons, things like that). But, Discovery, History, TLC, Nat Geo, Science, etc. went to Reality TV shitville and I don't care for that. There was no value to the Dish. So, I canceled. I regret nothing.

I'm still with Dish now, with SlingTV, but at $20 a month for some decent channels and $8 Netflix and OTA, I'm good. I'm doing real good.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041480071 said:
and once Jon Stewart leaves the Daily Show. (No one can replace him. Well maybe John Oliver, but he won't)
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God I miss The Colbert Report soooo much. :(
 
DocSavage said:
I bet there are plenty of people on this forum who manage to play 5 hours of games every day.
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QFT ^^^

Football, Hockey, and Golf fan here. "Cable cutting" is absolutely not an option until professional sports are 100% streamable in HD. My guess would be we're still 5-10 years from that.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041480261 said:
Yeah, hopefully he won't have to water it down too much for the larger audiences and will still be funny on the Late Show.
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Water down? It's not going to be the same guy. Colbert on Colbert Report was a character he made up, part Bill O'Reilly, part something else.

The Late Show will be Colbert himself. He'll still be funny though.
 
Ur_Mom said:
I dropped satellite not because of the other options available, but because of the programming. I enjoy documentaries and educational stuff. Of course some of the comedies and things (King of the Hill, Simpsons, things like that). But, Discovery, History, TLC, Nat Geo, Science, etc. went to Reality TV shitville and I don't care for that. There was no value to the Dish. So, I canceled. I regret nothing.

I'm still with Dish now, with SlingTV, but at $20 a month for some decent channels and $8 Netflix and OTA, I'm good. I'm doing real good.
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Yeah, that's why I dropped satellite. The programming has been dumbed down so much. I primarily watch BBC now. They have a lot more educational shows that make you think.

I tried SlingTV, but it's just liveTV rebroadcast over the internet (unless I missed something) - haven't played with it much. I like to watch on my time. I don't do live unless it's sports.

A lot of networks have their shows OnDemand online but have an account verification check to make sure you subscribe. Content providers need to wise up and realize there's a market for them to go direct - they get the ad dollars, they get the sub values.
 
That's because broadcast TV and cable service sucks.

TV came around...riddled with commercials.
Subscription cable service came out...becomes riddled with commercials.
Prices of subscription cable service greatly surpasses normal rate of inflation in the past couple decades.

People are getting sick and tired of paying hundreds of dollars per month to watch commercials with a little bit of shows thrown in and being forced to buy multiple channel tiers just to get the handful of channels that they want (e.g.- must subscribe to Basic, Silver, Gold, Platinum, HD (requires all Platinum and below tiers), DVR (requires HD) to get the Discovery/Science channels...)

Streaming services comes out...problem solved.

Dish is making a step in the right direction with SlingTV. It's just a damn shame it's taken this long for any content provider to get there...and I equally blame the networks and the content providers since they've been kissy-kissy double dutch rudder and so busy with giving each other reach-arounds that they forgot to pay attention to the market shift and institute A-La-Carte Channel Streaming Service a hell of a long time ago.
 
I'm not...I love my FiOS Ultimate package with hundreds of HD channels including the premiums...cord cutting and watching on a smartphone, tablet etc is not anywhere close to the experience of watching Game of Thrones or Bates Motel or Hannibal on a 55" plasma
 
I think people have come to realize that with the lower tier services cable and satellite offer, the content just blows. Video on demand is far better than someone else's predetermined schedule. I cut the cord years ago and juts use streaming and OTA. There's not much on OTA that I like to watch, but there are a few programs.

For me, the best show currently (I don't have Netflix streaming) are Vikings, Orphan Black, Elementary, The Blacklist, Grim, Falling Skies and sometimes sleepy hallow. I get the disks for Game of Thrones and Boardwalk empire. I know there's other good shows, but that's why I am currently watching. Most of these I stream either from the creators website or Amazon. None of the streaming involves commercials.

I can easily do streaming only, but what HBO is doing worries me a bit. I like that they're offering streaming, but not at $15 a month. There's no way I'm going to subscribe to a bunch of channels with each one charging $10 or $15 a month. HBO definitely has superior content to most, but just too rich for my blood. I rather spend the money on books.
 
I have two kids, aged 7 and 8. I got rid of cable when they were basically babies. Most of their memories of TV are using Netflix, and more recently YouTube.
I about died laughing a few years ago. We took them to Disney and stayed at a hotel with cable. The Disney channel was available, so the kids wanted to watch it.
First complaint: they had no concept of waiting until a show was broadcast. They only know on-demand. They about lost it and thought I was lying.
Second complaint: commercials. They were in disbelief. No way this was a thing.

So yeah, cable and broadcasters have their work cut out for them. Why mess with an antiquated system designed for antenna broadcast? We have moved on - they just haven't figured it out yet.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041480071 said:
:eek: :eek: :eek:


What is wrong with these people? Almost 5 hours a day!? What kind of loser, brain rotting couch potatoes do I share this country with?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a well written show every now and then, but 5 hours a day??? That's 35 hours a week. Almost a freaking full time job! Do these people really have nothing better to do with their time?

I wonder what my average daily TV watching is:

Lets see... Right now I am following Better Call Saul. It's an hour long once a week, but I never catch it live. Once my MythTV DVR is done with it, the ads are stripped out, and it's a 45 minute show.

I also usually watch the Daily Show because it is amusing to hear his take on the news I've heard on the radio throughout the day. Again, rarely live. It's a half an hour with ads, I'm guessing 20 minutes with the ads taken out. It's on 4 days a week.

That's it.

So in a given week that's 125 minutes of TV. Well, actually less, cause Jon Stewart takes a shit ton of vacation, but lets say 125 minutes.

That's just less than 18 minutes a day. I don't even want to calculate how much money this winds up being per hour based on my cable rate. If it weren't for my fiance and stepson I wouldn't subscribe at all.

Now, I haven't included my online streaming use in this. I tend to stream a movie once or twice a month, and I am slowly making my way through the latest season of House of Cards on Netflix (Don't have time for binge watching anymore), and I regularly watch Doctor Who with the stepson on Netflix as well.

So lets say another hour a week on average on House of cards and another 3 episodes on average of Doctor Who a week until we catch up with live, so that brings the total between TV AND Streaming (if including the 1.5 movies per month) to an average of 42 minutes per day.

Much more than I thought, and this number will dive sharply once we've finished Season 3 of House of Cards, once the first season of Better Call Saul ends, once we've finished Season 8 of Doctor Who and have to wait for more episodes and once Jon Stewart leaves the Daily Show. (No one can replace him. Well maybe John Oliver, but he won't)

As far as watching anything TV/Movie-like that's it for me though.

For me, those 42 minutes per day are a SHOCKINGLY high aberration just based on everything being available at once.

I can't imagine people just sitting on their butts watching TV for 5 hours a day. Just does not compute. I pity them. They must have horrible lives.
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A big portion of that is Stay-at-home wives. I can't tell you how many I used to know and how much they just stay home and binge on TV.
 
kattana said:
as someone who grew up on a farm.. yes. yes they do.

was a trip the first time i used the axe and it started running around afterwards till it finally flopped over and stopped :eek:
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We ate enough chicken on the farm that we made a cone of death. Basically, you take some sheet metal, make it into an upside down cone with a hole at the bottom big enough for the head to fit. Then sharpen around the edge of that hole. Stick the chick in upside down, yank the head off, and let it drain in place. Less chasing.
 
I haven't had a regular TV since 2001 or so. And have only had netflix the last couple years.
I don't have the attention span to just watch something unless it's amazingly good. We watch while eating dinner sometimes, or I have it on while I'm working for background noise. If Wife insists on watching something I'm usually reading or have a tablet on, just not engaging enough on it's own.

I figure if I live that long I'm going to be old and crippled and effed up and stuck watching or listening to TV in my last years anyway, not a lot of incentive to do so while I'm still reasonably able of mind and body.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041480071 said:
:eek: :eek: :eek:


What is wrong with these people? Almost 5 hours a day!? What kind of loser, brain rotting couch potatoes do I share this country with?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a well written show every now and then, but 5 hours a day??? That's 35 hours a week. Almost a freaking full time job! Do these people really have nothing better to do with their time?

I wonder what my average daily TV watching is:

Lets see... Right now I am following Better Call Saul. It's an hour long once a week, but I never catch it live. Once my MythTV DVR is done with it, the ads are stripped out, and it's a 45 minute show.

I also usually watch the Daily Show because it is amusing to hear his take on the news I've heard on the radio throughout the day. Again, rarely live. It's a half an hour with ads, I'm guessing 20 minutes with the ads taken out. It's on 4 days a week.

That's it.

So in a given week that's 125 minutes of TV. Well, actually less, cause Jon Stewart takes a shit ton of vacation, but lets say 125 minutes.

That's just less than 18 minutes a day. I don't even want to calculate how much money this winds up being per hour based on my cable rate. If it weren't for my fiance and stepson I wouldn't subscribe at all.

Now, I haven't included my online streaming use in this. I tend to stream a movie once or twice a month, and I am slowly making my way through the latest season of House of Cards on Netflix (Don't have time for binge watching anymore), and I regularly watch Doctor Who with the stepson on Netflix as well.

So lets say another hour a week on average on House of cards and another 3 episodes on average of Doctor Who a week until we catch up with live, so that brings the total between TV AND Streaming (if including the 1.5 movies per month) to an average of 42 minutes per day.

Much more than I thought, and this number will dive sharply once we've finished Season 3 of House of Cards, once the first season of Better Call Saul ends, once we've finished Season 8 of Doctor Who and have to wait for more episodes and once Jon Stewart leaves the Daily Show. (No one can replace him. Well maybe John Oliver, but he won't)

As far as watching anything TV/Movie-like that's it for me though.

For me, those 42 minutes per day are a SHOCKINGLY high aberration just based on everything being available at once.

I can't imagine people just sitting on their butts watching TV for 5 hours a day. Just does not compute. I pity them. They must have horrible lives.
Click to expand...

I wonder if they actually watch that much TV, or if the TV is on that long a day for background noise.
 
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