Do People REALLY Watch TV Anymore?

If you do any quick search on the state of the television industry, you’ll be sure to see tons of headlines commiserating the death of traditional TV. And TV viewing has indeed declined in recent years - in 2010 with individuals spending nearly 9 hours a day watching TV; today, it is less than 8.

In many ways, this depiction is accurate; nearly half (47%) of millennials and members of Generation X don’t watch any traditional TV, and the majority of the content they do access is not live.

What’s actually happening with TV?

While the traditional paid-cable model of viewing TV in the family den seems to be outdated, the thing is that television content is more available (and accessed) than ever before. The only thing that’s changing is how people view.

This year marks the first time that viewing content on mobile devices will exceed that viewed on an actual television.

The ubiquity of Internet access, combined with the massive influx on innovative content providers, has essentially toppled the cable industry’s long-standing monopoly over the content market – but that doesn’t mean that Americans aren’t watching.

Modern Media Consumers

A significant contributor to the shift in viewing habits is due to the massive change in the expectations of modern media consumers. They simply don’t want to be tethered to a TV for a specified and fixed amount of time – and in reality, that just doesn’t coincide with modern lifestyles in general.

Several distinct traits define the modern media consumer.

They want control. Live TV isn’t nearly as important as it once was, because now consumers want to access their content when they want it, from any location and on any device they have deemed the best fit for the situation, whether it be a tablet, a phone, or a television.
They will not be loyal. While there may be some exceptions to this, most media consumers won’t hesitate to drop an app or platform that no longer has what they want. For proof of this, look no further than the anticipated drop in HBO subscriptions after Game of Thrones wrapped up. There are just too many other options, including cable or satellite providers, OTT (over the top) providers, such as Hulu and Netflix, and individual channel apps, like STARZ and HBO Go.
They want a personalized experience. Personalization is growing in nearly every industry. As the capabilities of AI and machine learning grow, media consumers want to see both content and advertising that is specifically for them.

So, what does this mean for advertising?

Advertising during live TV’s peak was optimal – you had a captive and massive audience. But advertising in the digital age has the potential to be far more effective since you are targeting a receptive audience. However, to keep pace with the technology, modern advertisers will have to be agile and flexible, willing to adapt to a constantly changing media landscape.

In addition to this, advertising strategies must be more complex to achieve the level of personalization necessary to reach all of the intended target audience members. The critical thing to remember is that while TV is not dead, the way content is accessed has changed, and it will likely continue to do so, meaning that adaptation to this new model is no longer optional.

Those who fail to adapt will inevitably lose out to their competitors.