Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, traditional broadcasting, including both television and radio, was booming, and soon the big broadcasters had plenty of competition. However, with the rise of the internet and today’s YouTube generation, the broadcast landscape continues to change once again. More and more broadcast users are cancelling traditional subscriptions to begin using the many on-demand options available to them.
Millennials have grown up in an internet connected era. Many of them have never had to pay for a cable subscription. Some never turn on a radio, instead turning to the web for online radio broadcasts.
Not only is the shift in consumer use of traditional broadcast immediately affecting large broadcast companies, the changes in broadcast landscape are also showing up in advertising revenue as well. Traditional broadcast advertising sources are declining significantly, while the advertising revenue for online broadcast options is growing rapidly.
As more on-demand services become available, many traditional broadcasters are adding on-demand services of their own to try to adapt to the demands of today’s consumers. However, these efforts have come with mixed results, as top powerhouses on the web steal their market share. It may be that traditional broadcasters have waited too long to begin to adapt, since they were confident in the thought that traditional delivery systems would keep growing in the future.
With traditional broadcast on the decline and more people turning to web-based, on-demand options, investing in traditional broadcast has become a complex prospect. Not only is the use of traditional broadcast on the decline, but advertising and investment into traditional broadcast is also declining as well. Investors interested in the world of broadcast need to take the time to carefully research the industry, finding out which companies have been able to adapt to online audiences successfully and those companies that have not been able to accomplish this.
Traditional broadcast continues to lose viewership as younger consumers continue to turn to the web for their broadcast needs. Investors can sell traditional broadcast short when it comes to companies that have shown poor adaptation, or they can purchase new media leadership, taking advantage of the new trends in broadcast today.