New research from Samba TV, which provides omniscreen advertising and analytics, says in its latest State of Viewership Report, that linear television consumption declined 1% in the first half of 2024 as audiences get older and live events continue their shift to streaming, furthering the trend of cord-cutting.
Samba TV’s analysis covers approximately 45 billion hours of linear and streaming TV consumption, finding that U.S. households watched a record level of OTT content, up 40% vs. 2023.
On Thursday, Paramount Global said it took a $5.98 billion writedown as its linear cable TV networks continued to lose revenue. The massive writedown on the cable networks followed a $9 billion charge taken by Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this week, sparking doubt about its broadcasting future as the TV industry continues to struggle with the pivot to streaming.
Uncertainty after the loss of NBA television rights is causing concern that the decline in linear TV business will spiral more quickly, according to Morningstar analyst Matthew Dolgin.
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