• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 16, 2020

All the recent good news from Amazon, Netflix and Roku -- as well as new and upcoming streamers, Disney+, Apple TV+, Peacock and HBO Max -- are positive signs for the TV marketplace.

But prospects for all home TV consumption aren’t universally upbeat.

Traditional TV and the media business are facing real trouble. Big media companies have seen layoffs, furloughs, salary reductions among other depressing news. This includes already hurting non-TV media, such as the Los Angeles Times, which announced cutbacks.

Wall Street has recognized all this in declining stock prices — though Amazon, Netflix, and Roku have seen recent rises.

While at-home OTT/ connected TV platforms, as well as at-home delivery of consumer products, continue to grow, what isn’t known is whether associated advertising spending has completely shifted to those businesses.

Previous to all this, digital advertising had been rapidly growing -- in part, at the expense of traditional media.

Now we see digital media giants that rely on advertising getting hurt. For example, research shows Facebook taking a 25% cut in CPMs as the majority of its advertising customers, small and mid-sized businesses, make drastic cutbacks.

In the near term, TV/media advertising will endure a definite decline over the next several months/quarters. One would then expect this to be reflected in a narrowing of consumers' monthly TV choices.

Previous to the COVID-19 crisis, we had many surveys showing new premium streaming services were being bought in addition to  traditional pay TV platforms -- where users might spend $70 to $100 a month.

Think this consumer equation will last?

Now, U.S. media consumers could go to a decidedly cheaper route -- perhaps with many buying just one or two lower-cost TV-entertainment monthly buying choices, say a $12.99 a month Netflix service, and perhaps a $5.99 CBS All Access package.

Multiple consumer monthly entertainment services at home could be a no-go for hard-pressed consumers who may be out of work -- perhaps for a longer period of time than during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

The wide-range of entertainment/media possibilities -- and seemingly ever-higher total entertainment monthly fees -- could be transformed into trimmed-down media necessities.