Commentary
Recent Stories Imply Linear TV Is At Point Of No Return
- by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, July 2, 2024
Journalists who have long toiled on the TV beat have covered all of the various phases of TV history since the 1980s in which threats positioned as “existential” arose to vanquish linear TV.
But for all intents and purposes, linear survived.
But now, the current era has taken on a …
Adam, linear TV is just one way for getting TV program content whiile streaming is another way. Over time the linear TV content producers and distributors have developed, and then modified their busiess models, to reflect the realities of audience volume, program and other costs and sources of revenue. Now, with many homes still perfectably satisfied with the current linear TV business model and the content it delivers, its premature to label this type of TV as at a point of no return. Just as it's rather early in the game to consider streaming as the "winner"---especially as few of its players are making a profit while linear TV---with half of all viewing, remains profitable.
It's all "TV" to most consumers and as time passes, the distinctions between linear and streaming will become incresingly blurred. Soon, streaming will look much like linear TV in terms of content, the number of ads, and the profile of its audience as one merges with the other.