Total cable TV viewing in the US declined by 12.7 percent in January 2015 as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu are taking over in living rooms. Fox is cutting its forecasts and expects the “same themes to continue” in 2016.
Streaming is taking over
People in the US spent far less time watching TV channels and more time watching content on streaming services in January. Year-over-year TV ratings plunged 12.7 percent across all traditional TV networks, according to Nielsen.
An analyst from Nomura calls it “one of the worst declines we have seen since we launched coverage of these companies.”. Last week, Fox said that people are switching off the TV channels and that it had to cut its profit forecast due to ratings and currency swings, adding that it expects the “same themes to continue” in 2016.
Many in the industry continue to insist that streaming services are supplementing traditional TV channels, but the recent trend suggests otherwise. And 2015 could very well be a transformative year, as HBO, CBS and others are planning to launch stand-alone streaming services.
The first real signs of the cord cutting trend came in 2014 where 220.000 subscribers had cut the cord by the third quarter, and the trend appears to be accelerating.
- Source: Nielsen via GigaOm, BI
