Linear TV Viewing Continues To Erode

Samba TV’s The State of Viewership report for the second half of 2022 shows the continued erosion of traditional TV-watching.

According to nexttv.com, the report shows linear viewing hours fell 2% in the second half of 2022 compared to the second half of 2021. In the third quarter, linear viewing hit its lowest level in seven quarters before a season rebound that saw viewing in the fourth quarter equal Q4 of 2022.

Less than half of U.S. households — 45 million — watched linear TV each day during the second half, and only 48% of U.S. adults have a pay TV subscription, per Samba.

“We have reached a critical turning point in television and viewing consumption. For the first time in history, a majority of Americans report they no longer have a monthly cable subscription and are totally unreachable by traditional linear advertising,“ Samba TV CEO and co-founder Ashwin Navin said. “Meanwhile, streaming has become ubiquitous among every age group and ad-supported streaming has gone fully mainstream with significant expansion across new platforms, including industry leaders like Netflix and Disney Plus entering the world of ads.

The erosion of linear viewing is a concern to advertisers. With less than half of all households watching linear TV each day, the same consumers see the same ads over and over, which hurts brands. Younger people are less likely to subscribe to pay TV: 65% of Gen Z consumers had no cable subscription, according to Samba.

Samba found that 93% of linear ads reached only half of U.S. households, with the top 20% of linear viewing consuming the vast majority of linear TV.