Hardly surprising that live TV viewing is declining at a steady clip, right?
And frankly, even the 42% figure seems *way* bloated. In truth, at least half
of that is being recorded on old-fashioned in-home PVR type of devices, for
time shifting. Past figures have shown that more than half of "live TV" is
actually watched time-shifted. A couple of years ago, 53% of "live TV" was not
watched live at all.
My take is, the figure of "live" usage keeps falling, because habits have their
own momentum. People are used to using an in-home PVR, so they continue to do
so, even years after there are better ways of doing this. Eventually, something
will make them try the newer technologies, and that's when they'll question
their need for an MVPD at all. The process can take a long time.
Which continues to make me wonder why (a) this "live" nonsense is being hyped
up as a requirement for so-called vMVPDs, like it's such a big deal, and (b)
the continued confused hype about the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard. You don't
need a broadcast infrastructure (cable, DBS, or OTA) to distribute live
content, especially when actual live viewing is only sporadic hours, here and
there.
And then the defensive comments about "live TV," which never fail to appear:
"'While OTT SVOD has significantly changed viewing patterns among consumers,
live video is far from dead. We still see massive spikes in viewership for live
events. However, an increasing amount of live viewership is on connected
devices,' said Brett Sappington, Senior Director of Research, Parks Associates."
So, as implied by this comment, even if "live" content, in a few events, is
still important, that still doesn't mean that the "live" content is being
consumed on devices that use broadcast, be it OTA or legacy MVPDs. OTT sites
can distribute "live" content too, no problem at all.
We've been here before. If actual live viewership is a small fraction of TV
viewership, at what point does it stop making sense to continue making a big
deal about the "live-only" infrastructures? Why do broadcasters seem to think
the broadcast transmission is so all-important?
It's true that OTA TV (radio too) requires much less distributed infrastructure
than the Internet needs, or for that matter, cable TV. So it's nice to have
that fall-back, when emergency situations arise. But strictly for that
emergency role, just how many stations do we really need, in a given market?
Two? Three?
Bert
---------------------------------------------------
https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/research-finds-live-tv-viewing-shrinks-in-north-america
Research Finds Live TV Viewing Shrinks In North America
Parks Associates research finds live TV accounted for 42% of viewing in Q3 2018
Phil Kurz 4 hours ago
ADDISON, Texas-Although it is too early to predict the demise of live broadcast
TV, findings from a Parks Associates study released this month indicate the
importance of consuming live television is slipping among consumers as their
viewing habits and the devices they watch change.
In early 2012, live broadcast TV accounted for 60% of video consumed on
televisions; however, as of the end of last year that figure had dropped to 44%
and by the end of the third quarter this year it had fallen to 42%, according
to the research firm.
"While OTT SVOD has significantly changed viewing patterns among consumers,
live video is far from dead. We still see massive spikes in viewership for live
events. However, an increasing amount of live viewership is on connected
devices," said Brett Sappington, Senior Director of Research, Parks Associates.
The research, presented in "Video's Critical Path: Success at Web Speed," a
Parks Associates white paper sponsored by MediaKind, documents declining pay TV
subscriptions in North America and the adoption of OTT video delivery by a
large number of people.
According to the white paper, by 2022 the number of pay TV subscribers in North
America will drop to 103 million. By way of comparison, Eastern Europe will
have 99 million pay TV subscribers, and Western Europe will have about 130
million.
The Parks Associates research also found the cancellation rate of OTT video
service to be holding steady at 18 %, and that more than 85% of millennials
subscribe to at least one OTT video service. The firm projects that by 2022 a
total of 265 million households around the world will subscribe to OTT
services. With some subscribing to more than one, the number of total OTT video
subscriptions is expected to exceed 400 million.
MediaKind, which sponsored the research, will join TiVo, Swrve, Massive and
Premion as sponsors of the inaugural Future of Video: OTT, Pay TV, and Digital
Media conference, Dec. 10-12 in Marina Del Rey, Calif., hosted by Parks
Associates.
The white paper is available online as a download. Registration is required.
More information on the conference is available on the Parks Associates website.
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