Bad News Hollywood — Cable Viewership Hit Record Low

JOHN NOLTE, Breitbart,  8/15/23

For the first time in history, overall viewership of cable TV dropped below 30 percent in July. This is terrible news for a left-wing Hollywood that has utilized the affirmative action of cable TV to prop up its divisive, terrible, and hyper-political programming for decades.

Broadcast and cable TV dropped to a new low in July 2023 in terms of total share among American viewers — dropping below 50% of total TV usage in the United States for the first time, according to Nielsen.

Meanwhile, streaming services like YouTube and Netflix accounted for a record 38.7% of total U.S. TV usage, the category’s largest share reported in Nielsen’s The Gauge monthly report to date. Overall TV usage increased 0.2% during the month (and usage among audiences under 18 was up 4%).

In July, cable’s share fell below 30% for the first time, losing a full share point to stand at 29.6%. Broadcast usage fell 3.6%, down 0.8 points. On a year-over-year basis, broadcast viewing was down 5.4% (-1.5 points), and cable viewing was down 12.5% (-4.8 points).

So, according to Nielsen, fewer than 50 percent of America’s entertainment viewing came from the traditional sources of linear TV or broadcast and cable TV (which includes satellite providers like DirecTV). Where did all those viewers go? Well, they didn’t go outside. Overall, TV viewership increased in July. Instead, they went online. We are either watching TV through streaming services like Netflix or messing around on YouTube.

But-but-but if TV viewership is up, isn’t that good for Hollywood?

No, no, it is not.

For going on 40 years, cable-satellite TV has been the one-legged stool keeping Hollywood in business. Instead of Americans paying to view something specific, we were paying $150 a month for a giant package of entertainment we never watched. And because we paid for and subsidized channels we never watched through our cable bill, Hollywood could afford to keep basement-rated, left-wing propaganda networks like CNN, the Disney Channel, the Comedy Channel, MTV, etc., operational. You might not watch those outlets but you fund them if you pay for cable TV.

But as you can see in that report, people are canceling their cable subscriptions and moving online. Sadly for Hollywood, there is no way for them to recreate their rigged cable TV game online. People will now only pay for the outlets they watch, which is very different from cable TV, where they pay for a hundred outlets they didn’t watch. Merit finally matters again. Once cable TV dies, and it will within a decade, Hollywood can only make money through merit — by delivering a streaming outlet or outlets we’re willing to pay for.

And now we get to my favorite part…

Because Hollywood sucks at delivering content, we’re willing to pay for, other than Netflix, all of these streaming services are losing billions. Bottom line: Americans are moving away from the type of entertainment that delivered billions in annual unearned dollars to Hollywood and moving towards entertainment that costs Hollywood billions.

I laid this all out in greater detail here, but this is a seismic change in the way Americans consume their TV. Once this changeover is complete, Hollywood will actually have to create a product we like because millions of conservatives will no longer fund dozens of left-wing propaganda outlets like CNN just so they can watch Fox News or Turner Classic Movies.

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