TV Shedding Audience as iPad and iPhone Gain Popularity
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A new study published by Flurry was released earlier today: after the notebooks and the PCs, the good old television seems to be another casualty of the iPad and iPhone’s popularity.
After enjoying more than 50 years of comfortable growth, the television industry hit troubled waters in the nineties, as new technologies allowed users to radically change their viewing patterns. Since then, because of the advent of the DVR, the launch of the Internet, and the fact that our lifestyles demand more and more flexibility, the industry has been trying to reinvent itself, as less and less viewers are willing to watch linear content. To fight back, networks have been forced to push more and more content online and to multimedia stores such as iTunes, and even created dedicated sites such as Hulu.
But for the networks, the battle isn’t over. To make things worse, a lot of viewers are now turning to other kinds of content, and apps on the iPhone, the iPad and the iPod touch devices are competing for television viewers. According to Flurry, the apps the company tracks “comprise of a daily audience of more than 19 million who spend over 22 minutes per day [...] A new entertainment force is once again driving disruption. ” To put things in perspective, the figures put the consumption of apps tracked by Flurry somewhere between NBC’s Sunday Night Football and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. As a result, ad dollars allocated to TV programs are constantly falling, and ad dollars allocated to online advertising and in-app advertising are on the rise, a trend that should rejoice giants like Google and Apple.
Still according to Flurry, “since this analysis focuses on only two categories of applications, social games and social networking apps, it’s clear that iOS devices are already ahead of prime time television’s hottest shows.” In other words, Flurry‘s sample is limited, and the damage is likely even larger than the numbers published in the report. “You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on” were Steve Jobs words back in 2004 – difficult to argue with him when you look at the staggering figures published by Flurry.
Pictures credit: Flurry, kYo
