THE PRIMETIME AUDIENCE IS SHRINKING

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Ratings for some of TV's best shows are down in especially in the 18-49 demographic according to an article by Bill Carter in THE NEW YORK TIMES. During the Spring time hits like "American Idol", "Modern Family", and "Glee" have seen new ratings lows. Even cable's viewership has declined during the Spring season.

As a matter of fact, networks like ABC, CBS, and FOX have been losing viewers ever since March 19th. According to the article, "NBC lost an average of 59,000 viewers (about 3 percent) in that 18-to-49 age category compared with the same period last year, CBS lost 239,000 (8 percent), ABC lost 681,000 (21 percent) and Fox lost 709,000 (20 percent)."    

In the article, Mr. Carter gives some reasons for the decline in viewership including:

1. The Use of DVR's and people watching what they've recorded and not watching things live.
2. The nice weather of springtime which encourages people to do outdoor activities.

In my opinion, the best conclusion is offered by fomer head of entertainment at NBC, Jeff Gaspin who said that people have built-up libraries of shows that they watch on DVR, DVD, and Netflix so they don't have to watch every episode when it originally airs anymore or worry about commercials.

Mr. Gaspin gives an example of how he and his teenage son watched the first two seasons of "The Walking Dead" on DVR and Netflix to catch up for the season finale. The episodes they saw on DVR and Netflix made them feel all the tension and terror of the series. He notes that when he watched the season finale with his son on AMC, the tension was broken by all the commercials.
Mr. Gaspin saisd that he would not be watching "The Walking Dead" on AMC again.

I think that Mr. Gaspin's point is valid. Ever since the invention of DVD's and DVR's the audience's viewing habits have changed. People like watching their shows without commercials. Commercials are the lifeblood of the TV industry going back to the 40's and 50's. Now with this new change in habits, Will Product Placement become even more prevalent in TV shows? Will TV feature more reality shows? Only time will tell.

The Professor