Times change and technology changes
Audiences for broadcast TV are eroding.
Audiences for terrestrial radio are eroding
Readership of printed newspapers and magazines are eroding.
In the world of TV, aren’t the major broadcast networks heavily invested in cable channels? I think they have diversified away from just being broadcast TV networks.
“In the world of TV, aren’t the major broadcast networks heavily invested in cable channels?”
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They’re all owned by major corps that have their fingers in all kinds of pies. The independent & local channels are a different matter, tho.
The old-line businesses - and the media that cover them - STILL believe in the magical power of Nielsen ratings and the mechanisms/processes used to capture Nielsen ratings.
What networks and advertisers won’t admit to themselves is that the competition for attention and the resulting attention deficits are blunting and even erasing the utility of TV commercials. America is on its phone and on its tablet as soon as the game or show is interrupted. Mute buttons are engaged and the big flat panel on the wall is roundly ignored in favor of the small flat panel in one’s hand.
There are some signs that TV types know this - every commercial involves whiz-bang visuals and about one thousand edits/cuts within a 30 sec spot. Bright solid primary colors - eg shirts and jeans. Typical interaction: crazy customer with sane employee or vice versa. The setups, scripts and scenarios are mind-numbingly similar. Go back and watch 90s ads and in the days before HDTV they could only rely on lighting to emphasize the product, usually with a strong halogen key light on the label and shadows in the background. Now everything is lit brightly and digitally enhanced to emphasize edges and fonts.
But even with these cloying, desperate annoyances we’re still not paying attention - especially when a break may last 5-6 minutes. Networks hear of streaming services, binge-watching, etc. and still believe they can get away with 22 min of ad time per hour - to say nothing of the logjam of ads during sporting events.
It’s over, Johnny.
I agree except about the radio. I only listen to Limbaugh and Hannity on the car radio. At home on I Heart. All for free.
My music is via what I’ve purchased on Amazon / ITunes etc. I listen to my playlists in my car and at home. Occasionally I’ll listen to free broadcast radio for music. (Stopped listening to ‘new music’ around 1979. Nothing new interesting to me.
Never payed or would never pay for satellite radio.