All these numbers support the idea that younger Americans are cutting their cable cords at a quicker rate than their parents. That means the viewing audiences for television programs is getting older by the minute. And, if you believe Nathanson’s research, live television viewing is down 13 percent for all ages except for viewers 55 years and older. If that’s you, you’re probably watching your shows when the networks want you to watch and not when it’s convenient for you.
How important is any of this? Television networks have invested billions creating their monster businesses. But they’ve now learned that they need to spend multiple billions more to keep their monster businesses alive. Finding ways to feed their monsters, though, has become problematic. To coin a phrase, there is no Purina Programming Chow nor a store that sells it.
