5 ms·

What's most fascinating to me is that the 50-64 age group spends vastly more time overall viewing nearly every medium except streaming TV and video games. My o

What's most fascinating to me is that the 50-64 age group spends vastly more time overall viewing nearly every medium except streaming TV and video games. My own experience with my parents bears this out; the TV is always on and they're also on their phones as much or more than teens. But it looks like if habits don't change, there will be fewer hours overall spent on "consuming content" as the population ages.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ImaCake 8y ago
I wonder if the real reason advertising companies are worried about millenials is that they just avoid advertising whenever they can. There is a growing awareness about the effects of advertising, and the popular trends are towards reuse and recycling, even if those trends are mostly bullshit. In Australia we have a popular TV show called Gruen Transfer which does nothing but breakdown ads and explains how they do what they do. Finally, a biased anecdote from a millenial: Myself and many of my friends avoid ads by using ad-blockers and subscription services and not leaving the TV on when there is nothing to watch. Whereas my parents (about 60) watched far more television and didn't use ad-blockers... although recently they have been turning the TV off and using their ipads instead.
- downer56 8y ago
  I’ve been holding to the opinion for a few years now, that ever since end of the 2nd term of George W. Bush, TV, print, movies and music have all suffered a nigh-catastrophic brain drain, and fewer and fewer nerds drift in the direction of such career paths. Because of this, the candidate pool is smaller, filled with weaker options and the ones that do land in the field are mostly mediocre and surrounded by the mediocre examples of the old guard that can’t (or won’t) retire. After that, the rest is deterministic. Bad decisions compound, nothing is good any more, and the shit that really sucks isn’t even laughable, it’s either confusing, tragic or repellant. I made the mistake of watching cable in a hotel room, and it was like grazing my eyes with a red-hot shrimp fork, while running an angle grinder right next to my ears, and telling me my parents were killed in a horrible accident. The things happening on that TV were decisions so awful, that I questioned whether those responsible even understood their own motivations for operating what doesn’t even seem to be a business anymore. Everything was a chum bucket. Everything was clickbait. Everything was dark patterns. To watch TV and feel that way, for every channel I tried, means that almost all of TV has been reduced to the lowest internet tabloid trash by default. I remember what it used to feel like when nothing was on, but this seemed beyond nothing being on. I don’t know how the story ends though. The only thing I do know, is that TV is still a different enough game, such that no tech company really represents a credible DIRECT threat to TV at large, except Netflix, and only Netflix distinguishes itself from other tech companies by producing original shows that people actually talk about.
  - orloffm 8y ago
    What is the cause for this brain drain?
    - downer56 8y ago
      The internet changing the world, and all of the technology companies offering jobs that attract the best technical resources with better compensation packages, and unicorn dreams. Contrast this with what used to be the 20th century version of the tech industry’s unicorn narrative: becoming a super star on old media, appearing on TV, in movies, on the cover of magazines, or maybe making it big in music, or being a mogul thereof. These things still happen, but it’s obvious that fluffy celebrity stardom, or becoming the star maker, is shakier ground than it used to be, and technology-oriented success is an alternate path to fame and wealth. Because of the new things that have emerged over the past 20 years, the brain drain began some time ago, when alternate paths to success became evident, and old media suffered for it.
- tomhoward 8y ago
  I wonder if the real reason advertising companies are worried about millenials is that they just avoid advertising whenever they can I don't think advertising companies are worried about millennials; they can target them and measure results far more effectively with online advertising than they ever could via television, and thanks to smartphone addiction, screen time/ad exposure time is the highest it's ever been. Myself and many of my friends avoid ads by using ad-blockers and subscription services That may be true of sophisticated users like yourself and your peers, but I'm fairly sure you're in a small minority. Most people just use Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat and YouTube and read news articles unfiltered, and outside of that, brands can insert their message directly into the content via sponsorships and product placements with online celebrities. Broadcast TV may be declining as millennials spend their time and dollars elsewhere, but the advertising industry has never been stronger.
  - malka 8y ago
    idk about ad companies. But publisher are kinda worried about ad blockers :), I head numbers as high as 50% of users with ad blocks. normies use ad block now.
    - EADGBE 8y ago
      Not enough normal people do. It usually "breaks their site" they like to visit.
    - JKCalhoun 8y ago
      I expect then publishers love the Facebooks where ad-blockers are impotent.
      - malka 8y ago
        i havent seen an ad on facebook (the website, i do not use apps) for quite some time.
        tomhoward 8y ago
chocolatebunny 8y ago
I'm not sure if that's universal. My mom was a phone+TV person until all of her friends migrated to Whatsapp and Facebook. Nowadays she's on her smartphone a lot more than the landline. I guess the TV is still always on. My dad was a TV+book+newspaper person but now he's always online. He'll watch news clips online and read online. It's not that big of a change for him though, when he watched TV he used to watch these channels that would show text of the news along with news clips, very much line the news websites he checks out now.
- magduf 8y ago
  Yeah, my mom is about 80, and she now spends her most of her screen time with a laptop or a Nook e-reader.
dominotw 8y ago
I watched TV ( for background noise) in my hotel room while on work trip. All the ads were for skin tightening, erectile dysfunction, joint aches and sharp knifes( old ppl need these?).
- Simon_says 8y ago
  Everybody who cooks needs a sharp knife.
  - magic_beans 8y ago
    The biggest danger in the kitchen is a dull knife.
SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
Can't agree, this weekend my mom asked me about how to cut cable and if she can get a TIVO to record the things from Amazon and Netflix... So one step forward at least! Had to explain the whole point of streaming is you don't need to record it. If my mom is moving towards cable cutting, TV is in trouble now.
- thaumasiotes 8y ago
  > Had to explain the whole point of streaming is you don't need to record it. That depends on whether you think the problem with streaming over-the-air is that you have to watch it at a certain time, or that you won't be able to watch it again once it's over. Have you seen how content rotates in and out of every streaming platform? If you record it, you'll have it.
  - EADGBE 8y ago
    We just buy it once it's gone. Still save a ton of money and have the really good stuff on archive.
- EADGBE 8y ago
  Just make sure she has a good streaming box and healthy internet bandwidth. It can easily get frustrating, and become a complete turn off.
magicbuzz 8y ago
Depends a lot on the person. I see a lot of 60+ year olds watching TV but younger tech-savvy 50 something’s watch TV substantially less or not at all. I have a TV - only gets turned on for elections, major political announcements or certain annual sporting events. My teen years were in the early 80s and TV was simply the prime source of media at that time. My family religiously watched the national news at/before dinner. My parents still have that habit - but they’ve learned to record it and zip thru ‘crap’. Sometimes they now zip thru 30 minutes in a couple of minutes. It also seems that the quality of the content has massively declined. On the rare occasion I am waiting somewhere and there is a TV on, I’ve been stunned by how low quality some of the advertising is - poorly produced voice overs that would have been inconceivable in the 80s. I’ve met a few people who have their TV on all the time. I have never formed a positive opinion of people who have that habit.
ams6110 8y ago
I'm 52 and watch less TV than I ever have. I only have basic cable because it's cheaper as a bundle than internet alone (Comcast). I don't think I've watched any traditional TV since the super bowl. I also don't have a data plan on my phone.
EADGBE 8y ago
I don't think they mind the ads. They've always had them, and when the internet took their generation mainstream it already had an ad problem like TV. In my experience, people of this age don't seem to get into streaming TV because it's just such a jarring experience from what they're used to. They'd much rather flip through the channels on a guide, or leave the TV on and watch the news, compared to going to Netflix for A, Amazon Prime for B, and some proprietary streaming app for C. Even if it means less ads.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ImaCake 8y ago

I wonder if the real reason advertising companies are worried about millenials is that they just avoid advertising whenever they can. There is a growing awareness about the effects of advertising, and the popular trends are towards reuse and recycling, even if those trends are mostly bullshit. In Australia we have a popular TV show called Gruen Transfer which does nothing but breakdown ads and explains how they do what they do. Finally, a biased anecdote from a millenial: Myself and many of my friends avoid ads by using ad-blockers and subscription services and not leaving the TV on when there is nothing to watch. Whereas my parents (about 60) watched far more television and didn't use ad-blockers... although recently they have been turning the TV off and using their ipads instead.

downer56 8y ago
I’ve been holding to the opinion for a few years now, that ever since end of the 2nd term of George W. Bush, TV, print, movies and music have all suffered a nigh-catastrophic brain drain, and fewer and fewer nerds drift in the direction of such career paths. Because of this, the candidate pool is smaller, filled with weaker options and the ones that do land in the field are mostly mediocre and surrounded by the mediocre examples of the old guard that can’t (or won’t) retire. After that, the rest is deterministic. Bad decisions compound, nothing is good any more, and the shit that really sucks isn’t even laughable, it’s either confusing, tragic or repellant. I made the mistake of watching cable in a hotel room, and it was like grazing my eyes with a red-hot shrimp fork, while running an angle grinder right next to my ears, and telling me my parents were killed in a horrible accident. The things happening on that TV were decisions so awful, that I questioned whether those responsible even understood their own motivations for operating what doesn’t even seem to be a business anymore. Everything was a chum bucket. Everything was clickbait. Everything was dark patterns. To watch TV and feel that way, for every channel I tried, means that almost all of TV has been reduced to the lowest internet tabloid trash by default. I remember what it used to feel like when nothing was on, but this seemed beyond nothing being on. I don’t know how the story ends though. The only thing I do know, is that TV is still a different enough game, such that no tech company really represents a credible DIRECT threat to TV at large, except Netflix, and only Netflix distinguishes itself from other tech companies by producing original shows that people actually talk about.
- orloffm 8y ago
  What is the cause for this brain drain?
  - downer56 8y ago
    The internet changing the world, and all of the technology companies offering jobs that attract the best technical resources with better compensation packages, and unicorn dreams. Contrast this with what used to be the 20th century version of the tech industry’s unicorn narrative: becoming a super star on old media, appearing on TV, in movies, on the cover of magazines, or maybe making it big in music, or being a mogul thereof. These things still happen, but it’s obvious that fluffy celebrity stardom, or becoming the star maker, is shakier ground than it used to be, and technology-oriented success is an alternate path to fame and wealth. Because of the new things that have emerged over the past 20 years, the brain drain began some time ago, when alternate paths to success became evident, and old media suffered for it.
tomhoward 8y ago
I wonder if the real reason advertising companies are worried about millenials is that they just avoid advertising whenever they can I don't think advertising companies are worried about millennials; they can target them and measure results far more effectively with online advertising than they ever could via television, and thanks to smartphone addiction, screen time/ad exposure time is the highest it's ever been. Myself and many of my friends avoid ads by using ad-blockers and subscription services That may be true of sophisticated users like yourself and your peers, but I'm fairly sure you're in a small minority. Most people just use Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat and YouTube and read news articles unfiltered, and outside of that, brands can insert their message directly into the content via sponsorships and product placements with online celebrities. Broadcast TV may be declining as millennials spend their time and dollars elsewhere, but the advertising industry has never been stronger.
- malka 8y ago
  idk about ad companies. But publisher are kinda worried about ad blockers :), I head numbers as high as 50% of users with ad blocks. normies use ad block now.
  - EADGBE 8y ago
    Not enough normal people do. It usually "breaks their site" they like to visit.
  - JKCalhoun 8y ago
    I expect then publishers love the Facebooks where ad-blockers are impotent.
    - malka 8y ago
      i havent seen an ad on facebook (the website, i do not use apps) for quite some time.
      - tomhoward 8y ago

chocolatebunny 8y ago

I'm not sure if that's universal. My mom was a phone+TV person until all of her friends migrated to Whatsapp and Facebook. Nowadays she's on her smartphone a lot more than the landline. I guess the TV is still always on. My dad was a TV+book+newspaper person but now he's always online. He'll watch news clips online and read online. It's not that big of a change for him though, when he watched TV he used to watch these channels that would show text of the news along with news clips, very much line the news websites he checks out now.

magduf 8y ago
Yeah, my mom is about 80, and she now spends her most of her screen time with a laptop or a Nook e-reader.

dominotw 8y ago

I watched TV ( for background noise) in my hotel room while on work trip. All the ads were for skin tightening, erectile dysfunction, joint aches and sharp knifes( old ppl need these?).

Simon_says 8y ago
Everybody who cooks needs a sharp knife.
- magic_beans 8y ago
  The biggest danger in the kitchen is a dull knife.

SlowRobotAhead 8y ago

Can't agree, this weekend my mom asked me about how to cut cable and if she can get a TIVO to record the things from Amazon and Netflix... So one step forward at least! Had to explain the whole point of streaming is you don't need to record it. If my mom is moving towards cable cutting, TV is in trouble now.

thaumasiotes 8y ago
> Had to explain the whole point of streaming is you don't need to record it. That depends on whether you think the problem with streaming over-the-air is that you have to watch it at a certain time, or that you won't be able to watch it again once it's over. Have you seen how content rotates in and out of every streaming platform? If you record it, you'll have it.
- EADGBE 8y ago
  We just buy it once it's gone. Still save a ton of money and have the really good stuff on archive.
EADGBE 8y ago
Just make sure she has a good streaming box and healthy internet bandwidth. It can easily get frustrating, and become a complete turn off.

magicbuzz 8y ago

Depends a lot on the person. I see a lot of 60+ year olds watching TV but younger tech-savvy 50 something’s watch TV substantially less or not at all. I have a TV - only gets turned on for elections, major political announcements or certain annual sporting events. My teen years were in the early 80s and TV was simply the prime source of media at that time. My family religiously watched the national news at/before dinner. My parents still have that habit - but they’ve learned to record it and zip thru ‘crap’. Sometimes they now zip thru 30 minutes in a couple of minutes. It also seems that the quality of the content has massively declined. On the rare occasion I am waiting somewhere and there is a TV on, I’ve been stunned by how low quality some of the advertising is - poorly produced voice overs that would have been inconceivable in the 80s. I’ve met a few people who have their TV on all the time. I have never formed a positive opinion of people who have that habit.

ams6110 8y ago

I'm 52 and watch less TV than I ever have. I only have basic cable because it's cheaper as a bundle than internet alone (Comcast). I don't think I've watched any traditional TV since the super bowl. I also don't have a data plan on my phone.

EADGBE 8y ago

I don't think they mind the ads. They've always had them, and when the internet took their generation mainstream it already had an ad problem like TV. In my experience, people of this age don't seem to get into streaming TV because it's just such a jarring experience from what they're used to. They'd much rather flip through the channels on a guide, or leave the TV on and watch the news, compared to going to Netflix for A, Amazon Prime for B, and some proprietary streaming app for C. Even if it means less ads.