No one likes watching TV anymore? Survey proves smartphones are eating into the TV industry

On December 8, Fortune magazine reported that the latest survey by market research company Nielsen confirmed a fact that has become a traditional view: Smart phones are winning step by step, while traditional TV is losing step by step. This phenomenon is particularly evident among the 18-34 age group that the TV industry most wants to reach.

According to Nielsen, traditional TV ratings across all age groups peaked in 2009-2010 and have been declining ever since. Prior to 2009-2010, TV audiences had been growing every year since 1949.

This survey is the first attempt by Nielsen to comprehensively assess video viewing behavior on traditional TV, the Internet, mobile phones and other devices. Data shows that in May this year, the use of TV-connected devices such as smartphones, tablets, streaming set-top boxes, and game consoles in the 18-34 age group increased by more than 25% year-on-year to about 8.5 million people per minute. In contrast, the number of TV viewers in the same age group fell by 10% to 8.4 million people per minute.

Obviously, some of the time people spend on their smartphones, tablets and TV-connected devices is spent watching TV programs. But in many cases, viewers spend the time they would have spent watching TV on mobile devices such as smartphones, where ads are skipped or removed by users, which greatly affects Nielsen's client base.

Smartphones are eating into the TV industry

Nielsen calls this report a comparable metrics report because it is the first time the company has integrated video viewing on traditional TV with streaming services such as Netflix, mobile devices, and online services such as YouTube under the same standards. Nielsen pointed out that many online video viewing comparisons through services such as YouTube and Facebook are misleading in their assessment of actual viewers. Users may watch a video for tens of minutes within an hour or more, but some research companies do not need such a long video viewing time to identify viewers. Users who watch a video for a few seconds may be identified as viewers by some research companies.

“Our first impression might be that tens of millions of video views have a larger audience than the millions of TV shows, but the two numbers are derived in completely different ways,” Nielsen said. “TV viewership is measured by the average number of people watching a show per minute, not the total viewing time of a video as digital media usually measures. Overall, a much larger number of people watch TV broadcasts.”

How long users watch the video

David Pakman, former CEO of online music retailer eMusic and media investor at US venture capital firm Venrock, once said that users' attention is continuously shifting from traditional media forms to new platforms such as streaming game platform Twitch and Snapchat, a self-destructing messaging app. The behavior of young users represents the future, and products such as Facebook and YouTube are first used by teenagers and then expanded to older people.

This may not be what Nielsen or its clients, most of whom come from the traditional TV or TV advertising industries, want to hear, but it is true. What they should know is that by the time this trend starts to dominate the analysis reports of companies like Nielsen, it may be too late.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.