Of course they split it, since you get your locals with Sat./Cable already.
Yes, and streaming got a “plurality” not a win. And summer is over. As I said, if such numbers were available 20 years ago, Blockbuster probably beat linear TV in the dead of summer. NBD.
But for those who stream only, OTA is the only way for them to get their locals.
Umm, you do not understand the survey. OTA counts as OTA, whether you get those channels via cable, DBS, a linear streamer or actual OTA. NBC, et al, are always “OTA”, ESPN, et al, are always “cable”.
But the point of that survey is more and more people are turning to streaming first because the newer/better content is there.
In July and August.
And yet they keep putting more content on plus like MNF, which you said would not happen.
What I said was linear ESPN will NEVER be sold a la carte. Checked this morning, still right.
Ok, what is your magnificent plan to stop the losses and start to gain back subscribers to Traditional Paid Live TV?
I do not have one. Not all problems, in business or anything else, have an answer. See Blockbuster, above, for an example. Times change and there are winners and losers in a new paradigm.
Previously “everybody” had cable (or its equivalent) and thus “everybody” paid for sports. And sports costs way more than the ratings justify (which is to say, a customer pays way more for ESPN or FS1 than they do for, say the Discovery Channel or FX or whatever).
It was the system. 99% of people had no real choices, 2 X DBS or cable, all of which had the sports. Now DISH doesn’t even have the RSNs, nor does most linear streaming deals. And of course those who don’t like sports at all, can opt totally out and just watch streaming. That is more people than you think. (Here is where the term “self-selection” comes into play vis potential customers).
The answer? What was the answer for Blockbuster? For the proverbial buggy whip maker?
What I am seeing in the industry is a kind of “re-bundling”. Different sports tossed into the mix on streamers with no other similar content, PLUS being tossed in what I call “general rerun channels” (TNT, TBS, USA etc) PLUS linear ESPN, FS1, et al, PLUS ESPN+ PLUS some source (I live close enough to get it free, not everyone does) of the OTA networks.
That is a lot. A la carte is anti-consumer. Said that 20 years ago, still believe it.
So a sports fan is looking at paying for 5 to 8 streaming services, which there very well be no other content on it he wants, plus linear TV and ESPN+. And a non-sports fan cannot opt out of sports as today, as most all steamers now have expensive sports content which he may have, as with all the sports on cable 10 years ago, no real interest in.
Oh, and BTW
showbuzzdaily.com
CBS got just over 27M for the most watched slot of the week. If you look at the Fox ratings (which are a combined national rating of those Fox stations that had a game at 1 and those at 4, and understand that about 20% of those ratings are from 4 pm games, we get to 30M.
Just like most every week. Not 120M, 30M. Which is why a buy rate of 99% of people that watch the “free” game is just not going to happen.
www.barrettsportsmedia.com
