Insights: The State of TV, Why Advertisers Needs Radio

The television landscape is undergoing massive change as audience viewing habits shift from linear TV to ad-free streaming options. What does this mean for advertisers who have historically used TV in their media plans for mass reach? 

This week’s Westwood One blog looks at the state of American TV.'

• One out of four persons 25-54 cannot be reached on linear TV: Nielsen’s just-released Total Audience Report reveals linear television’s weekly reach among persons 25-54 has dropped from 85% in Q3 2018 to only 77% in Q3 2020.
• “Worst year ever” for cord cutting: Pay TV lost 5.5 million subscribers in 2020.
• Cable buys miss 40% of America as pay TV penetration collapses: MoffettNathanson reports that residential penetration of traditional pay TV is down to 61% of occupied households. This is sharply reduced from pay TV’s peak 89% penetration in 2009.
• Broadcast TV’s reach is down an average of -22% across FOX, NBC, CBS, and ABC affiliates according to MoffettNathanson.
• Across all genres, especially original programming, broadcast TV networks see declines in time spent viewing: The largest fall was for originals which went from 1,040 minutes per day to 486, a -53% decrease since 2011.
• Cable networks see erosion across all genres in 2020 with the exception of news: Across the board, massive erosion occurred for cable genres like originals (-78.9%), kids (-77.3%), and syndicated programming (-63.3%).
• ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX audiences skew increasingly older: According to MoffettNathanson, in Q4 2020, 67% of all broadcast network viewership was from the 50+ audience.
• Cable network audiences also grow older: Since Q4 2015, the share of cable network total day viewership by persons 50+ has grown from 46% to a massive 65%.
• Putting AM/FM radio in the plan generates triple the reach of connected TV: Adding 50 points of AM/FM radio to 250 points of TV (225 linear TV GRPs and 50 connected TV GRPs) generates a +24% increase in reach, triple the incremental reach lift that connected TV can add alone.
• The average P&G brand experiences a +38% increase in reach due to AM/FM radio campaigns.
• The younger the demographic, the greater the incremental reach lift generated by AM/FM radio.
• AM/FM radio makes your TV better by reaching light TV viewers. According to Nielsen Scarborough AM/FM radio reaches 83%+ of the light TV viewer audience across all demographics.