It's not easy being a network executive these days. Consider the challenges: While NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox continue to siphon upwards of 60% of the television advertising dollars and to attract the biggest audiences, broadcast revenues are down an estimated 9% this year and may never be what they once were. Competition, meanwhile, is everywhere. The cable guys are making some of the most popular shows on TV and are pressing for an increasing share of advertising dollars as companies target the kind of audience niches in which the likes of AMC, TNT, and Bravo specialize. And it goes without saying that the array of entertainment options—YouTube clips of improbable Scottish singers, online games, pirated movies and TV shows—is luring eyeballs away from destination television.
For decades network TV has been about reach. Programmers traditionally chose shows with broad appeal, the better to get millions of viewers and, in turn, persuade national advertisers to buy those eyeballs. That era is essentially over and the networks are scrambling to adapt to a fragmented landscape where even popular shows are lucky to pull in 10 million viewers. "They have to rethink what they put on the air, how many hours they'll do it, everything in their playbook," says a former top executive who now produces TV shows.
Read this fascinating Business Week article that discusses the future of TV by Clicking Here.
A series of articles and other resources on the Future of Television can be found by Clicking Here.
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