Heading into the dawn of a New Year, the inevitable array of year-end recaps of statistics and downturns, along with forecasts for 2023, has dominated news feeds of late. And the bottom line, according to Variety, is cord-cutting is growing — and, thanks to NFL Sunday Ticket’s impending move to YouTube TV, will likely accelerate in 2023 as the movement of viewing time from linear to streaming continues.
But even with this growth in streaming, the four most-viewed sources remain over-the-air broadcast networks. For instance, on Thanksgiving Day, 168 million Americans representing a little more than half of everyone alive in the U.S. watched at least part of NFL football games on three linear channels. Another 27 million awoke by 9 a.m. ET to see a parade that first took place nearly a century ago.
Live events still command attention, and more people still turn to traditional ways to access them when it’s available to them.
And when they’re not watching live events, millions still turn to broadcasters for entertainment, including a slew of diginets that operate as standalone affiliates and subchannels with better numbers and trajectories than an overwhelming majority of cable networks and streaming platforms. Much of the content they’re watching represents thousands of hours of library series from legacy studios, many decades old, that are finding new audiences through ubiquitous availability.
And yes, that content is often also available through FAST channels that are gaining adoption and advertiser acceptance, and which are increasingly being expected to drive