The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Another Reason To Worry About The Future Of OTA Broadcast TV

**Posted by RadioActive** April 16, 2025 9:15 am

Figures show so-called regular TV got only 10 per cent of all viewership in the month of March, possibly pointing to another nail in the coffin of the kind of television most of us grew up with. And it's not just the Netflixes and Disneys of the world that are leading to the decline.

The truth seems to be that now that all the major networks have their own streaming services, they may be deliberately putting their best shows on them to make more money, leaving the dregs (including endless game shows and cheap-to-make reality programs) for broadcast. Which leads to an audience decline and a vicious circle of failure.

That does not bode well for OTA TV.

Legacy broadcasters account for just more than 10 percent of TV viewership in March

**Posted by tvguy** April 16, 2025 9:48 am

Misleading headline. If you click through, to the pie chart, "broadcast" - which is OTA gets 20.5%. Much higher than the 10.5 % headline.
The 10.5 figure, relates to some streaming services -which on a per service have a much lower viewing statistic. What's interesting about the pie chart graphic is the share for "cable" which is 24%. How much of that might be attributed to current programs on cable channels owned by the OTA networks that have a 2nd run on a delayed basis on a cable channel - like USA network, which would bolster ratings for the programs. I agree with you, OTA viewing shares are plumetting.

**Posted by RadioAaron** April 16, 2025 10:29 am

Not just the headline, the whole article completely mis-interprets the report, which is not as dire as it implies.

https://www.nielsen.com/data-center/the-gauge/