This is not looking good for the major sports on FTA
Aussie TV networks fail to stem the bleeding as viewers look elsewhere
- Adam Turner
- The quarterly viewing figures paint a scary picture for Australia's television broadcasters as younger viewers tune out in droves.
Nielsen, OzTam and Regional TAM's 'Australian Video Viewing Report' tries to put on a brave face every three months, having changed its name from the Australian Multi-Screen Report to put a positive spin on the fact that we're looking elsewhere for our video entertainment.
- The report proudly proclaims that "two thirds of 18-24 year-olds, who are traditionally among the lightest TV viewers relative to the overall population, watched broadcast TV channels weekly in the latest quarter". In other words, one third of them can go for a week watching absolutely no broadcast television.
The year-on-year drop in the amount of time Australians spend watching broadcast television is accelerating across the board. Photo: Australian Video Viewing Report & Australian Multi-Screen Report
Rusted-on seniors are keeping the numbers from plunging into freefall, but even they are gradually weaning themselves off traditional television. Broadcasters are sitting on a demographic time bomb, as you can be sure when today's middle-aged Australians become senior citizens they won't go flocking back to broadcast television.
Interesting. From an AFL perspective it is almost certain that there will be live, advertising-paid fee-access of some games and content in its next rights deal from 2023, whether that medium is FTA TV or something else. Question is, will it be able to maintain the $150m it got in the current deal?..