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Cable, Broadcast Viewership Down, Particularly Among Kids
A new report by Bernstein Research notes that the TV industry saw a 8% drop in cable audiences and a 9% drop in broadcast viewers during the week of November 17 through 23. For several years we've noted that these drops are particularly notable among child viewers, a market where Netflix has significantly eroded the audience of channels like Nickelodeon. The Bernstein report notes that children audiences saw a 12% in the past week and a sharper 15% drop in quarter-to-date audiences, as Netflix has made a significant effort to appeal to kids (and parents):
quote:
"A 5-year-old is probably less concerned with seeing the latest Spongebob Squarepants, compared to just reruns of that show," said Brett Harriss, a media analyst at Gabelli & Company. Nickelodeon and Disney Channel viewership fell 25% and 24% respectively, according to the Bernstein report. "For kids' programming it's a unique audience. They're not loyal to any network or channel. It's platform-agnostic," said Amy Yong, an analyst at Macquarie Capital USA Inc.
Nickelodeon and Disney Channel viewership fell 25% and 24% respectively, notes the report.
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delltechkid
join:2004-11-09
Hermitage, TN

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delltechkid

Member

Not surprising...

We went without TV for a long time until just recently when we got a bundle with TV for cheaper than I was paying for internet. My kids are used to Netflix, etc. being able to watch whatever show they want at whatever time they want. Also, I like it because I don't have to worry about commercials all the time and I don't have to worry about what might come on next after the show they're watching goes off.
existenz
join:2014-02-12

existenz

Member

Re: Not surprising...

When this generation hits 18 trying to sell them broadcast cable/TV will be like trying to sell a landline phone to Millennials.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
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join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

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IowaCowboy

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FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

Saturday morning cartoons used to be fun until the FCC mandated that children's programming have educational value.

If I ever have kids I'll play DVDs of old classics like the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (from the early '90s) or Tom and Jerry.

I won't expose them to anything mandated by government propaganda. The same reason I'll send them to catholic school.

Maelish
join:2014-11-03
Nashville, TN

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Maelish

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Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

I'd have to agree with you there. The government screws up everything it touches.

DaveRickmers
join:2011-07-19
Canyon Country, CA

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DaveRickmers

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Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

said by Maelish:

I'd have to agree with you there. The government screws up everything it touches.

That's no way to talk about our Military!

davidc502
join:2002-03-06
Mount Juliet, TN

davidc502

Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

It's not about the Military (I know your comment was sarcasm)... It's about politics, but unfortunately they probably don't have enough sense to know it.

maartena
Elmo
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join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

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maartena to DaveRickmers

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to DaveRickmers
said by DaveRickmers:

said by Maelish:

I'd have to agree with you there. The government screws up everything it touches.

That's no way to talk about our Military!

No offense, but they screw that up too.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
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join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy to DaveRickmers

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to DaveRickmers
I support the military but you haven't heard of the $400 toilet seats and $600 hammers.

The military spends 100 times the street value of the goods it buys because they let vendors rip them off. It's like buying a $19.99 prepaid dumb phone for the price of a smart phone. That's why defense costs more than it should.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler

Premium Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

said by IowaCowboy:

I support the military but you haven't heard of the $400 toilet seats and $600 hammers.

I guess you haven't heard that one is simple economics, and the other was bad accounting? Check out #3, and give the govt. toilet seat & hammer thing a rest.

»www.cracked.com/blog/5-t ··· pending/

Titus
Mr Gradenko
join:2004-06-26

Titus

Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

It's because the deals are made back room and facilitated through ridiculous appropriations bills too long to read even if someone wanted to. Add ex-serviceman setting on the panel and there you have it. Absurdly rapacious prices for any and everything to cover the profits.

meeeeeeeeee
join:2003-07-13
Newburgh, NY

1 recommendation

meeeeeeeeee to Maelish

Member

to Maelish
said by Maelish:

I'd have to agree with you there. The government screws up everything it touches.

Sadly, the thing it has screwed up the most is Government!
said by DaveRickmers:

That's no way to talk about our Military!

You've never read Catch-22 have you...

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
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NormanS

MVM

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

said by meeeeeeeeee:

You've never read Catch-22 have you...

I did not consider "Catch-22" so much a spoof about the military; more as a spoof about bureaucracy, such as I encountered not only in the U.S. Army, but at Hewlett-Packard, as well.

Surely Comcast is an example of a civilian entity afflicted with the "Catch-22" mentality!

meeeeeeeeee
join:2003-07-13
Newburgh, NY

meeeeeeeeee

Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

The military is one of the largest and most screwed up bureaucracies in the world, but rather than fighting or denying or trying to unsuccessfully change it over and over again, they accept it and embrace it and have admirably learned to work within it and get the job done. It is what it is and they have mastered it. That is why change is not well tolerated in the military. Changing things means having to figure out a whole new way to get around the new stupidity in order to get the job done.
dfxmatt
join:2007-08-21
Crystal Lake, IL

dfxmatt to Maelish

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to Maelish
Not quite. Some things have been screwed up significantly, but some things work out well. We do still have free speech, for example.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

said by dfxmatt:

We do still have free speech, for example

Unless you're in some forum and call some one a fanboy or something then just watch how fast your post gets removed!

I use that as an example just because it's about the simplest type of censorship you can imagine and I have had that happen several times in various forums.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to IowaCowboy

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to IowaCowboy
I have to agree. In the 1980s they had a few education spots like school house rock. But most of the night was still tthe good shit like Loony Tunes.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

1 recommendation

ArrayList to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy
The garbage of when we were kids. Yeah, that stuff is garbage. Come to think of it, so is the stuff that is on now.
ViRGE
join:2002-10-25

ViRGE

Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

Indeed. Which is what makes the grandparent's claim so odd. Go turn on Disney/Nick/CartoonNetwork on a Saturday morning. Children's TV is every bit the ad-driven garbage it always has been.

The only thing that has changed is that it's on cable networks instead of broadcast networks. And that is driven by the fact that children's programming doesn't make much sense on broadcast networks due to the existence of and high subscription rate to the dedicated cable networks.

And note that most FCC mandates (e.g. E/I) don't apply to cable TV anyhow.
waycoolphil
join:2000-09-22
Cathedral City, CA

waycoolphil to IowaCowboy

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to IowaCowboy
"I won't expose them to anything mandated by government propaganda. The same reason I'll send them to catholic school."

And Catholic propaganda is better than government propaganda?

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
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NormanS

MVM

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

said by waycoolphil:

And Catholic propaganda is better than government propaganda?

If you are Catholic, or even just sympathetically religious, then yes.

I should add that government education (Cal-state k-12) left me with the understanding that the medieval Catholic Church taught that the Earth was flat (hence why it opposed the proposed voyage of Cristoforo Colombo) and that Japan, in the 1930s-1940s, was a Fascist state bent on world domination. Neither is true.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
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join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy to waycoolphil

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to waycoolphil
I believe in faith, family and freedom over government propaganda. I'd rather my kids be taught academics and moral values over government nonsense.

Our public schools are infested with gang activity and have become government indoctrination stations for radical liberal agendas.

And I am catholic and I believe in the catholic teachings.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler

Premium Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

said by IowaCowboy:

Our public schools are infested with gang activity and have become government indoctrination stations for radical liberal agendas.

Weird. I grew up in the small city of Los Angeles w/ public education and "gang infested" isn't the word I'd use. Well, unless they swooped in only recently, I guess.

Can't agree with the "radical liberal" agenda either, as my mandated education came from a former advisor from Carter who taught a pretty moderate curriculum. No tin foil hats, no "the govt. wants to eat your kids", etc. We did talk a lot about how people got those impressions though.

I dunno. When someone tells me about gangs breeding in all public schools & college forcing a school of thought (well, aside from scientific method. Hard not to be a scientist w/o that!), it feels like they have a skewed view of things perpetuated by entertainment stereotypes.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
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join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

Times have changed, and I'm fortunate that I graduated high school in Iowa before my mother moved back to her hometown of Springfield, MA; which has the worst school system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts along with Holyoke. I'm glad I don't have children but if I did I'd find the money to send them to Catholic school. Springfield schools are underperforming, they are plagued with disciplinary issues (gang activity, drugs, violence; you just don't hear about it on TV as its swept under the rug) and they are actively involved in a lawsuit for doing NOTHING about a girl getting sexually assaulted in a middle school (that was on TV). Those are the many reasons I wouldn't send my children to Springfield public schools. The kind of stuff they do in our schools here would get you permanently expelled from school in the state of Iowa.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
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NormanS to Thaler

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to Thaler
said by Thaler:

When someone tells me about gangs breeding in all public schools & college forcing a school of thought (well, aside from scientific method. Hard not to be a scientist w/o that!), it feels like they have a skewed view of things perpetuated by entertainment stereotypes.

Maybe not all; but gangs were a very real issue for one of my cousins with a teenage daughter in an East San José, California high school.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler

Premium Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

said by NormanS:

Maybe not all; but gangs were a very real issue for one of my cousins with a teenage daughter in an East San José, California high school.

Guess so. I got bored w/ the regular curriculum, and was encouraged by parents to push for the honors/AP classes that my public school offered. Basically, I found that I got out from my city public schooling exactly what I put into it.

(And on a side note, private schooling was my introduction to systematic corruption, lol. I was physically bullied by kids from higher donor families...and they never saw repercussions. Basically, I learned that $$$ = grades and/or leniency...and that left a sour taste in my mouth.)

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
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NormanS

MVM

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

said by Thaler:

Basically, I found that I got out from my city public schooling exactly what I put into it.

What I got out of public schools was what the educators wanted me to regurgitate on demand. I found some flaws after I was finished.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler to waycoolphil

Premium Member

to waycoolphil
said by waycoolphil:

And Catholic propaganda is better than government propaganda?

At least it's not evangelicals. While I come from a different religious ruleset, I can appreciate a Vatican that incorporates scientific discoveries.

meeeeeeeeee
join:2003-07-13
Newburgh, NY

meeeeeeeeee

Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

Stay tuned... with this new Pope, the Church might even make it into the 17th century I'm starting to like this guy... hope he doesn't mess it up.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler

Premium Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

I'll take improvement wherever I can find it. Especially compared to those that seem to be going backwards as time elapses.

Also, they're pretty up and up on the research there. People still fight (academically) to get in. »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Po ··· Sciences

meeeeeeeeee
join:2003-07-13
Newburgh, NY

meeeeeeeeee

Member

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

There are orders in the Church who have always taken a more scholarly, scientific approach, such as the Jesuits that educated me in Engineering (and the general use of my brain). My theology one semester consisted of reading "A Canticle for Leibowitz", a delightful little story about how things can be misinterpreted through the millennia, but there are still those in the Church that know where the cauldrons for boiling oil are kept and are eager to haul them out and deep fry a few heretics. I hope this new Pontif is able to keep the oil boilers at bey and let a little sunshine into the deep, dark corners of the Vatican. The place could use a good airing out, it's grown musty. He may just be able to drag them kicking and screaming into the latter part of the 17th century. It would be quite an accomplishment.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
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NormanS

MVM

Re: FCC Eductainment Mandate Killed The Fun

said by meeeeeeeeee:

He may just be able to drag them kicking and screaming into the latter part of the 17th century. It would be quite an accomplishment.

Or not.

•••••••
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080 to IowaCowboy

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to IowaCowboy
It was a good idea, until they figured out it COSTS real money to make good educational programming.. the dirt cheap reality tv they've been shoveling society for the past decade costs pennies on the dollar because it's loaded with tv advertising and produt tie-ins and that's when they're not running propaganda or infomercials. Aside from 1 or 2 sitcoms, I'll only watch the news when it suits me (when something important is going on in the world)... otherwise it's all bad.. Apparently broadcast wants the ad revenues, but thumb their nose at the public interest. Did you think it was going to get any better when Comcast bought NBC?

Don't look to tv to edumacate! Drop a human in front of this programming and you get a non-thinking brainwashed person with no job skills.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena

Premium Member

Yep!

Besides the fact I am a 40-year old cord cutter, my 18-year old nephew told me over the weekend he doesn't watch TV anymore, he mostly watches stuff on youtube and his mom has a Netflix account. We were specifically talking about us not having TV service.

It's also a divorce situation and his laptop moves to wherever he lives that week/month and offers him all he wants to watch. He is starting to think about moving out for college as well and may have found a room with someone, and he said that all he really needs is internet, he wouldn't even buy a television and if he did he would just connect it to the internet as well.

The media/content companies and channel owners are thinking everything is still just fine and can continue to charge up the behind for television channels, but the baby boom generation is starting to die off, and the younger generation moving out isn't buying in to cable tv anymore.

One also has to remember that the younger generation (those of 30 and younger) were practically raised with the internet, and with an "on demand" life style when it comes to video. I've been on the internet for 20 years now (dial-up in 1994 with Windows 3.11) and on-demand video services - and especially things like youtube - have existed for 10+ years. For the older generation, youtube is a "nice addition" to their internet experience where they sometimes go to watch things. Many of the younger generation go to youtube for sometimes hours a day, that IS their new form of entertainment.

You certainly don't have to watch "America's Funniest Home Videos" on TV anymore. Or music videos for that matter.

Sports is the only thing that really marries viewers to their high cable bills each month, and for me it became a choice between sports, and saving $1,000 a year. Yeah, the money won. Sports isn't worth a thousand bucks, or pretty much the downpayment on a brand new car every 5 years. To some people it may be worth it though, every so often I see the comments online: "If the channel my team is on is in dispute with carrier X, I will immediately leave carrier X and go to carrier Y or Z".

In the Los Angeles market alone it is $4 to watch the Lakers, $4 to watch the Dodgers (and they have no deals yet outside of TWC), $3 to watch the Angels (their last broadcast deal in 2010 made the acquisition of Pujols possible, which was part of the deal)... and all I really want is to watch the Ducks, without having to shell out pretty much near $15 a month for the teams mentioned above + Kings + Clippers + UCLA + USC + LA Galaxy + minor teams.

I think as soon as Sports allows you to buy access to 1 team online (and have options on devices like Roku, Apple TV, Smart TV's to access them), I think cable and satellite companies are going to shit in their pants, badly.

Corehhi
join:2002-01-28
Bluffton, SC

Corehhi

Member

Everyone with kids knows this

Netflix is so popular that the kids actually talk about any new kids movie that pops up on Netflix then they all watch it. Disney shows are on there but Sponge Bob isn't on Netflix or any Nick shows. Disney made a deal with Netflix giving up while Nick is trying to have their own internet channel or something like that.

Especially for smaller children there is plenty to watch for free or through Netflix, amazon, Hulu, even YouTube.

MooJohn
join:2005-12-18
Milledgeville, GA

1 recommendation

MooJohn

Member

A whole generation of kids

Has never seen Bugs Bunny. Who's Sylvester? To them the Smurfs is a live-action movie series, not a cartoon. They don't know that Saturday mornings meant cartoons anyway - now it's filled with things like "Pet Vet" and Non-Euclidean Geometry for Toddlers (ok, I made up the last one )

There's a good Honda commercial now with Skeletor as the salesman. Something like that won't work in 20 years because these kids have no cartoon characters except for reruns they catch on Boomerang.

The whole E/I mandate is absurd. This headline proves that if you put crap on TV that kids aren't interested in, they just won't watch it! Why did anyone think that kids would stay in front of the TV even if it was a 3-hour block of Al Gore?

Did they forget that 80s cartoons did teach lessons? They had entire PhD staffs to make sure each episode had a well-explained moral. Think He-Man, Thundercats, Silverhawks, etc. Of course they sold toys too - gotta pay the bills - but they were good enough work that we old folks are willing to buy the DVD sets 30 years later.

•••
RJW1678
join:2003-01-15
Wilmington, DE

RJW1678

Member

I refuse to watch Garbage Programming

I have not watched any TV in over 6 weeks. I either listen to CD's thru my stereo or read a book(that I got from the public library). I do not miss TV. My TV still works Over the Air with Antenna, but I refuse to watch the garbage programming. Also I am an old fart.

Later,
Bob

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

Member

I've Seen It First Hand

I have an eight year old niece and there is very little she watches on TV. She prefers Netflix and playing with her tablet including watching YouTube videos. In fact, she doesn't listen to the radio or play music on her iPod or tablet. In some ways, I am very happy to see her avoid TV and cable as I consider it a vast wasteland and money wasted.

TheBionic
Funkier than a mohair disco ball.
Premium Member
join:2009-07-06
united state

TheBionic

Premium Member

I actually watch more TV now...

What's funny is I have watched more current TV in the last year than I have in decades prior.Mostly because the shows are copying the success of big budget comic book movies and are thus appealing to me more as a big sci-fi/fantasy/superhero/horror nerd. None of it live; everything gets DVRd and played later so I son't have to watch commercials. I watch stuff like The Flash, Gotham, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Strain, Constantine, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who and Game of Thrones on a weekly basis when they're on. I can't remember a time when I was following so many shows. My Netflix watching has dropped dramatically in recent months as a result. Of course you can get most of those online without a tv subscription as well but I find that option to be a royal pain in the butt most times.
stridr69
join:2003-05-19
San Luis Obispo, CA

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stridr69

Member

Re: I actually watch more TV now...

Isn't it sad though that those one hour shows you record from the networks are really only 30-40 minutes in length once you strip the commercials. At least Games of Thrones gives you an hour of viewing. And I've found that DOES make a difference. Looking forward to see what Frank Underwood is up to in February(House of Cards). That's my kind of viewing. Release the entire season all at once. Wanna binge watch? Go for it. A couple of episodes per nite? Doable. That's what put the Networks in a snit. Viewing on the viewers time, not their time. Thank You Sony for the BetaMax VCR back in the day. You created an entire new way to watch TV. And it's just getting better every day.

Jon Geb
Long time member
join:2001-01-09
Howell, MI

Jon Geb

Member

My kids watch DVRed content from Nick and Disney

I'm not sure how big Netflix is for kids, I'm guessing its more of a case of parents cutting the cord and the kids losing the option to watch Nick and Disney content.