There are fewer Ameri
can homes with televisions these days. Television ownership used to account for 98.9 percent of Americans but has since declined by 2.2 percent. This is according to a Nielson report. The Nielson Company is well known for tracking television usage and show ratings. Neilson sites two reasons for the decline. The first is the most basic reason: financial hardship. With what is going on with the economy and many Americans unemployed, it is understandable that many poor families no longer have televisions. Families that are struggling financially are more likely to have eliminated their cable service. Cable service has become an unneeded luxury item even for middle class families. With the switch over to digital programming from analog, many families were unable to upgrade their televisions.
The second reason that Nielson speculates is a cause for the decrease in households with televisions is the new generation of tech savvy young adults. Many twenty-somethings are opting to cut off the cable or just not get a television altogether. Many Americans in this age group have recently graduated from college and joined the workforce. With this progress, many are embarking on homeownership or renting an apartment away from their parents. Young adults, who sometimes struggle with becoming financially stable, forego purchasing a television right away in an effort to save money. Then there are those that don’t feel that a television is necessary. Because of the internet and companies like Netflix, there is no desperate need to have a television because clips, shows and movies are available online.
This report from Nielson will definitely change the way that television networks and studios do business. The dependency on widespread television usage has shaped the way that these networks operate. If more and more viewers are becoming solely dependent on their smart phones and computers for videos, the dominance of television programming and advertising will dwindle. Shows may be created and produced to target an online audience specifically. Fewer people and households with televisions mean that less people are being influenced by a television programming and advertising.
No one should be surprised by this revelation. People have been weaning themselves off of television for a while now. There are less people watching their favorite shows on a certain night of the week because they know that they will be able to view it online at their convenience. People don’t need a television to find out what is going on in the news with many news companies like The Huffington Post and CNN offering up to the minute information. Televisions have also become very expensive. It is very difficult to find a traditional set so many people have to create a budget just to be able to afford a flat screen television. Stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy are selling televisions for hundreds of dollars, forcing people to think really hard about purchasing one. Television networks ought to brace themselves for continuous decline in the years ahead.
