Nielsen reported data this week that confirmed what most people in the TV industry already knew: people are spending ever-less time watching TV in the traditional manner, and ever-more time watching streamed content in a non-traditional manner.
According to the ratings company’s third-quarter 2014 Total Audience Report(formerly the Cross Platform Report), total time spent watching traditional TV among adults fell 4.4 percent from the same quarter last year, to 4 hours and 32 minutes a day, while time spent watching streaming video grew by 60 percent year-over-year.
About the only type of traditional TV programming that still cuts it as appointment viewing is live programming with a high urgency factor. While marketers increasingly are shifting dollars out of traditional TV channels and into digital platforms, advertisers will still pay a premium for a live audience that can’t fast-forward through the commercials. A 30-second spot in this year’s Super Bowl, for instance, went for $4 million. But the shift has left broadcast and cable networks ever-more dependent on live sports, which is still watched overwhelmingly in real time, and major live events such as the Oscars telecast or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade…