Linear TV Viewership is Dropping Like Flies

Linear TV viewership is truly dropping like flies, with 2022 marking the first year streaming surpassed traditional TV in viewership. Get this: 56% of Americans no longer have cable, satellite, or telco TV. What’s even crazier is at the end of 2023, 47.6 million American households will have cut the cord.

Why the rapid drop? It’s simple: Americans want to save money and streaming is cheaper (even with recent price hikes — thanks streaming apps). The average cord cutter saves roughly $100 per month by cutting cable, so the decision to cut seems rather obvious. Besides the large price difference, Connected TV’s on-demand features give viewers the freedom to watch what they want, wherever and whenever.

It’s anticipated that by 2025, 72% of Americans will have completely abandoned cable TV. CTV will soon monopolize the television ecosystem, so it’s time for cable to change and advertisers to convert.

Popular cable providers are adapting to this changing landscape. Comcast, who was previously resistant to discounting, recently introduced a streaming live TV service, offering access to Peacock for $20 per month. Their shift in approach is obvious from their 2023 Q1 earnings report, which highlighted the drastic impact of streaming on cable companies. Comcast is now striving to align its TV packages with the scale and pricing of streaming channels to retain their diminishing audience.

Even YouTube, traditionally associated with smartphones and desktops, has transitioned toward TV screens. They have modified their CTV ad offering for YouTube Select content, displaying a 30-second non-skippable ad on Connected TV devices. YouTube Select content is now primarily viewed on TV screens, constituting 70% of their audience. This move aligns with the trend toward living-room-focused viewing experiences and caters to advertisers’ expectations.

Connected TV not only offers viewers the flexibility to pay for specific services, but also provides ad-supported content for free, giving all households an affordable streaming option. Advertisers are massively benefiting from this surge in CTV viewership, allowing them to unlock CTV’s precise audience targeting, measurement, and attribution features on the big screen with growing audiences — impossible with linear TV.

Although still lagging behind the U.S. viewership trend, the advertising market is undoubtably adjusting to CTV’s buzz. CTV is predicted to account for nearly 50% of TV ad spending by 2024, jumping 21% since 2020. Connected TV has revived the allure of living room viewing, enticing viewers away from smaller screens and back to larger, more immersive experiences without the cost of cable and with on-demand’s freedom. As advertisers increasingly flock to CTV solutions, other services are enhancing their offerings (copycat alert) to remain competitive.

At EMG, we make Connected TV advertising easy and assessable for retail automotive dealerships. Automotive marketers can easily unlock the full potential of CTV at EMG, directly finding and reaching highly-predictive, valuable auto-intending audiences on private access, premium inventory channels. With online and offline performance metrics, EMG can further optimize dealership campaigns, and marketers are able to easily understand their streaming campaign’s impact on vehicle sales and seamlessly report these findings to their dealership clients.

To advertise on the favored (and top performing) TV medium, contact EMG and get a dealership proposal today.