Same in the UK, average age of viewers on BBC is 59-60: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/press_releases/2014/telev... I shudder to think what the average age is of broadsheet newspaper readers is...
TV is increasingly for old people
31–40 of 57 posts
Re: TV is increasingly for old people
#32> And he’s part of one camp that believes young professionals and students will eventually become cable subscribers. > “We suspect they will trade up,” Skipper said. The implication here seems to be that cable is the premium/preferred product, and people will switch to it once they can afford a cable subscription. That does not at all strike me as being the case in this day and age. The internet, and piracy, created…
It's worth considering that he's with ESPN, and sports is an unusual case. Television shows and movies don't have nearly the timeliness factor sports broadcasting has. If I see guardians of the galaxy a week after it comes out it doesn't really matter, but there's very little point in watching 'the game' even a day after the fact (unless there's some exceptional reason to). So in some regards, they do have kind of a…
I like that I can buy my two sport channels, Eurosport 1 & 2, for £3.99 a month. I can watch with a 15 second delay from the tv version (which means no tv license - £150 per year I think), I can watch up to three hours delayed, it's in HD (which is extra on cable) and I can watch on my PC, phone, tablet, xbox and more.
I don't watch anything else.
Re: TV is increasingly for old people
#33> And he’s part of one camp that believes young professionals and students will eventually become cable subscribers. > “We suspect they will trade up,” Skipper said. The implication here seems to be that cable is the premium/preferred product, and people will switch to it once they can afford a cable subscription. That does not at all strike me as being the case in this day and age. The internet, and piracy, created…
Ironically, even when I own the DVD I'll still watch the Netflix streaming version, simply because it is more convenient.
You should rip your DVDs and store them on a hard drive connected to a Roku/WDTV/whatever...
Re: TV is increasingly for old people
#34I don't understand why older people hang on to less optimal way of doing things? I hope I never do this. Being able to watch content at any time you want is better than having to schedule your time around broadcasts. No advertisements is better than having to endure advertisement breaks in the middle of a show. Same with newspapers. You can't share newspaper content easily. You can't click on a word and Google it or…
> I don't understand why older people hang on to less optimal way of doing things...
I'd imagine they simply don't understand how these things work. I don't think my parents have ever intentionally watched a YouTube video. I'm sure they've heard of Netflix, but I don't think they know how to setup it up... so they wont even consider the value proposition... even though their Blu-ray player has built-in Netflix support.
We've grown up with this technology so it's not a big deal to rip a DVD or download a torrent.
But if you're barely aware that these things even exist, it's difficult to actually learn how to use them... even if the procedure is ultimately trivial.
Re: TV is increasingly for old people
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's worth considering that he's with ESPN, and sports is an unusual case. Television shows and movies don't have nearly the timeliness factor sports broadcasting has. If I see guardians of the galaxy a week after it comes out it doesn't really matter, but there's very little point in watching 'the game' even a day after the fact (unless there's some exceptional reason to). So in some regards, they do have kind of a…
I recognize that I'm in the minority, but tape delay is the only way that I'll watch sports. I don't really mind the commercials, but fast forwarding through them let's me watch a 3 hour game in 2 hours -- that's significant. It also makes it easier to avoid the dreadful commentators like Don Cherry. That doesn't really change your point though. I typically start watching after about an hour -- I'm highly unlikely to…
And watching live sports is often a social experience - big games are fun to watch with friends and family. Sometimes it's just fun to watch with strangers who are also invested in the game's outcome. I've never had cable, but often I've gone to bars alone to watch a big game like a gold medal hockey game or the world series; Grab a few beers, order a pizza or something, and it's a lot of fun.
Re: TV is increasingly for old people
#36I don't understand why older people hang on to less optimal way of doing things? I hope I never do this. Being able to watch content at any time you want is better than having to schedule your time around broadcasts. No advertisements is better than having to endure advertisement breaks in the middle of a show. Same with newspapers. You can't share newspaper content easily. You can't click on a word and Google it or…
I think having a dedicated TV with cable is optimal:
1. Computers and Internet are for work (HN being an exception), TV is for
entertainment. It makes sense to keep things separate, even physically
separate.
2. If I watch TV, I do *not* want to be bothered about thinking what to watch.
I reserve these kinds of decisions for work or for things that actually
matter.
3. If another person makes the program for me, I'm likely to be exposed to
interesting things that I would not have picked by myself.Re: TV is increasingly for old people
#37The plethora and popularity of reality TV doesn't say much about our older generations. Sarcasm aside, the relative popularities of Fox News on TV and Vice on the Internet are pretty good examples of what this article is talking about.
I question the veracity of that statement. Whenever you see a mob of screaming fans surrounding one of the Kardashians they tend to span all age groups. And twentysomethings are always trying to get me to watch the latest E! reality show.
Re: TV is increasingly for old people
#38> And he’s part of one camp that believes young professionals and students will eventually become cable subscribers. > “We suspect they will trade up,” Skipper said. The implication here seems to be that cable is the premium/preferred product, and people will switch to it once they can afford a cable subscription. That does not at all strike me as being the case in this day and age. The internet, and piracy, created…
In college I lived in an apartment that provided cable TV as part of the rent and I never hooked it up. Even though it literally cost me nothing, I still wasn't interested. I preferred the flexibility of Netflix (and pirating) to watch what I wanted, when I wanted, and the fact that a full third of airtime on cable is dedicated to showing commercials is a huge turn-off for me.
Same, I am currently in college and have free cable in my room. I even had a TV at one point. Never hooked them up. Ended up selling the tv.
Re: TV is increasingly for old people
#39I don't understand why older people hang on to less optimal way of doing things? I hope I never do this. Being able to watch content at any time you want is better than having to schedule your time around broadcasts. No advertisements is better than having to endure advertisement breaks in the middle of a show. Same with newspapers. You can't share newspaper content easily. You can't click on a word and Google it or…
I think having a dedicated TV with cable is optimal: 1. Computers and Internet are for work (HN being an exception), TV is for entertainment. It makes sense to keep things separate, even physically separate. 2. If I watch TV, I do *not* want to be bothered about thinking what to watch. I reserve these kinds of decisions for work or for things that actually matter. 3. If another person makes the program for me, I'm li…
> It makes sense to keep things separate, even physically separate
Saying something doesn't make it true.
>2. If I watch TV, I do not want to be bothered about thinking what to watch. I reserve these kinds of decisions for work or for things that actually matter.
Fair point. It's the same reason I listen to pandora in that sometimes I'd rather not choose.
> 3. If another person makes the program for me, I'm likely to be exposed to interesting things that I would not have picked by myself.
Maybe but more often than not, this isn't true unless you find the massive amounts reality tv to be interesting.
But none of the reasons you describe make TV with cable optimal for anything except lying back and having random (not necessarily good or interesting) entertainment thrown at you and exposing yourself to hours of psychological marketing tricks.
Re: TV is increasingly for old people
#40I don't understand why older people hang on to less optimal way of doing things? I hope I never do this. Being able to watch content at any time you want is better than having to schedule your time around broadcasts. No advertisements is better than having to endure advertisement breaks in the middle of a show. Same with newspapers. You can't share newspaper content easily. You can't click on a word and Google it or…
Because in a lot of ways a decent smart TV at say 50 inches with iPlayer is lot less fuss than messing about with a pc and a much smaller display an suboptimal sound.
Smart TV and cable are not the same.