Commentary

A Mass Medium Without Mass Media: Live TV Losing Default Status

by Steve Smith , Staff Writer, December 14, 2015

DVRs and OTT services have been eroding the primacy of live TV for years, but in just the last two, prime-time viewing has hit a clear tipping point.

A few months ago, we first reported that share of viewers who default to live broadcasts when turning on the TV has plummeted since 2013, from 50% of the total to 34%, according to the latest tracking study of TV habits from Hub Entertainment Research.

To be sure, live TV remains the top source when first tuning in. But at least according to these self-reported metrics, the amount of time viewers spend with live TV has dropped from 41% of total time to 32%, while time spent with online platforms has grown to 46%, up from 34%. DVRs have taken some of the hit from streaming services, down to a 16% share from 21%.

If Gen-Z and younger Millennials are the trendsetters marketers like to think they are, then Netflix is the new TV. The shift is dramatic for 16- to 24-year-olds – 40% of whom report that Netflix is the default when they turn on a TV. For the 18-34 segment, Netflix is the default for 31% and live TV for 33%.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the survey relates to how TV formats are chosen by use case. When viewers are tuning in without any specific program in mind, 40% start by browsing live TV, vs. 27% who browse Netflix. And when viewers are using the TV as background for another activity, 50% go live vs. 15% turning to Netflix. But Netflix is the go-to source now when viewers have specific programming in mind to watch (28% vs. 15% for live). But Netflix is also getting our closest attention. When viewers are intent on watching a specific program without distraction, 26% of the time they are going to Netflix. They go live only 20% of the time.

TV is not TV anymore. The technology has evolved from being perceived as a narrowly defined experience to a tool, a monitor to be configured by context in countless ways. Or, another way to say it is that the great mass medium of the previous century no longer has mass media to fill it.

This post was first published in a late-July edition of Data and Targeting Insider.

data, tv, tv everywhere

3 comments about "A Mass Medium Without Mass Media: Live TV Losing Default Status".

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Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, December 14, 2015 at 3:06 p.m.
TV has lost its urgency. We used to watch because we only had that one opportunity, so it seemed more salient. Now we know we can catch it later, or not at all if our short attention span only prefers YouTube clips. (I compare that to my youth when network series had 39 originals per year and 13 summer repeats. You either saw it or waited for rerun syndication. Live variety typically ran only once with summer variety show replacements. Many shows were not recorded at all.)
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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, December 14, 2015 at 4:26 p.m.

Douglas, I sort of agree with you in the sense that the broadcast TV networks---who no longer dominate TV----are not necessarily the first place one tunes to when turning to "TV".

I think that we make a mistake equating ABC, CBS and NBC with "TV", however as basic cable, with the sum of its many channels, has certainly supplanted the old time networks as the universal "default" choice, along with some alternate sources of content like Netflix. This distinction is lost in studies like the one referred to in this article which refers to TV generally and doesn't present a clear definition to the respondent.

I wonder what would happen if each respondent had been taken back to "yesterday" and asked about each time they turned to TV or video, with carefully posed questions to refresh their memories. It would be interesting to see what such a tightly controlled study found about the first place they went for TV/video on each occasion. My guess is that "TV", counting the networks, local stations and basic cableas "TV" would have "won" by a huge margin.

Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC, December 14, 2015 at 4:55 p.m.

I'd also caution that many in the Millenial age group are just entering the life changes that dramatically shift viewing habits (as we have seen it shift their habits from text to email, etc...). They are just beginning to buy homes so now they are facing mundane questions like "how do I fix a water heater". The 20's are a blissful time when every generation imagines that it has redefined the entire way all future generations will be... And then the 30's hit and by their 40's they'll be using the phrase "kids these days...". :-)