Posted on 03/11/2015 10:37:37 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Viewership was down in the third and fourth quarters
It might be time for cable to start worrying about online streaming. The Wall Street Journal reported that a drop in TV ratings and viewership can be chalked up to subscription-based streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.
People familiar with the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau told the newspaper that as much as 40% of TV-rating declines in the third and fourth quarters were attributable to streaming services. The news comes as TV viewing has declined by an estimated 10% from a year previously in the third quarter, and by 9% for the fourth quarter year-over-year, according to the Journal, citing Nielsen data.
“We believe the U.S. television industry is entering a period of prolonged structural decline, caused by a migration of viewers from ad-supported platforms to non-ad-supported or less-ad-supported platforms,” according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger in a March 9 statement.
According to the Journal, Scripps Networks Interactive chief revenue officer Steve Gigliotti said that working with Netflix once “sounded like a good idea, but “now there are some serious misgivings about it.”
Netflix reported fourth quarter earnings in January, posting big gains. The company reportedly finished 2014 with a 26% gain in revenue in the year’s last quarter, while over four million people subscribed. Netflix notched $1.48 billion in revenue during the quarter, up from $1.18 billion last year. Profits also rose 72% year-over-year for the fourth quarter to $83.4 million, or $1.38 per share.
Meanwhile, HBO announced a streaming service that will begin as an exclusive partnership with Apple. Plans were unveiled at a March 9 event, featuring the Apple Watch. While HBO Go will cost $14.99 per month and require access to an Apple TV, Netflix costs $8.99. During the event, Apple also announced it’d be reducing the price of the Apple TV to $69 from $99.
All I can think to recommend is a Roko or Firestick electrical appliance.
With a Firestick you can stream a menu of stuff to any TV through your modem, and spare yourself television fare.
Hope that helps.
The MLB App is crap. I bought it last year to watch the Cards. You’re lucky to get more than 10 minutes of streaming before having to jack with the system to get it back.
I think that if I could stream fox news I might drop my cable but keep the internet
They have now a loss of monopoly. They have competition that will drive change. Prices will come down
A “one-hour” TV program has between 39 and 42 minutes of content. The remaining time is commercials — roughly 20 minutes per hour of content. Many times, they have commercial interruptions with 5 minutes of each other. And, the final commercial interruption period has been extended to about 8 minutes.
In the 1960s-70s, a typical “one hour’ TV program had about 48 minutes of content.
Netflix has zero interruptions for commercials.
“Basically, we’ve been dealing with this issue for years with HBO, literally 20, 30 years, where people have always been running wires down on the back of apartment buildings and sharing with their neighbors,” he said. “Our experience is, it all leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising… If you go around the world, I think you’re right, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. Well, you know, that’s better than an Emmy.”As for the Apple deal, it's basically a pilot program, testing the waters. HBO doesn't have the infrastructure to offer their service to the public via internet right now, but Apple does. Look for them to expand to Roku and other devices after the three-month exclusive.
I have no TV or cable.
I have had only Netflix since about 2008.
Who needs the MSM?
Reagan got shot when I was a kid. It was a bummer day for me, and not for that reason. I had to play outside.
And buying a dedicated TV internet box is for people who can't figure out how to hook a computer to their entertainment system or don't realize its a much better way to go about it.
Been watching internet TV for several years with a computer I built that now holds multiple 2TB HDs All of it backed up with HD movies and HD Tv shows, Home Movies, photos etc. plus it can stream most of what the dedicated settop boxes can do AND I can record anything I stream just like a DVR.
Hah! I remember that too! I remember telling my parents “Come on let’s get it there’s no commercials!” Now out of a 1000 channels maybe one or two are commercial free. That’s the money angle, anytime money is involved eventually the rules are going to change no matter what they say. That’s why this stuff of the FCC getting involved in the internet is such a scam, it goes without saying eventually they’re going to go after the money. A license to run a website, taxes, fines, you name it.
Good.
With Netflix, I get to watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it.
With cable, I pay for 250 channels I’ll never tune in to, plus the 50 channels I do... But then I’ll end up watching the shows I missed off Netflix later anyway...
I haven’t had a TV since 2007. Anytime I watch TV now, and a commercial comes one, I forget what I was watching, and turn the channel.
I have to admit though, MSNBC is a good comedy show.
I remember when Disney Channel started having commercials. They would just advertise the shows that came on Disney.
So then the 3 month exclusion was for....
Nothing at all except to trick people who own a roku into buying an Apple.
Like I said, Not gonna stop pirating in fact the people who do most of the pirating already hate Apple and Big Media.
Created a filthy show, and filthy people will figure out how to watch it without paying.
There are ways around that.
Subjective - value proposition will very from individual to individual. From a strict price comparison, my cable company wants $30/mo. for HBO if not bundling it with other premiums.
And buying a dedicated TV internet box is for people who can't figure out how to hook a computer to their entertainment system or don't realize its a much better way to go about it.
Or has different needs. In my case, I have a dedicated home media server hooked up to one TV, but Apple TV units in two other rooms to leverage off the same storage system. Does that make me someone "who can't figure out how to hook a computer to their entertainment system"?
Plus, the Apple TV also has the AirPlay feature which allows me to directly stream anything off my phone directly to that TV. It's more than just a dumb box for dumb users.
Netflix is streaming video content, delivered over the Internet. You don't download anything - you just use either a computer or a streaming device like Apple TV or Roku to connect to the Internet and watch whatever you want, just like cable TV except you control the time and place you want to watch rather than letting the cable channels do it. The Netflix servers push the content out to you in real-time.
Netflix requires a decent quality broadband Internet connection and it doesn't have "everything". It does have a lot of recent movies and TV shows, including international content. But for $9.95 a month, it will save you a fortune on cable TV bills and DVD/Blu-ray rentals or purchases.
I was a skeptic about streaming video at first, but Netflix and Dramafever (Korean/Asian movies/TV) have changed my mind.
Been off landlines since 2005.
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