From Shel Israel’s Global Neighbourhoods: ‘TV Networks have another year of decline’. He quotes from Crain’s New York Business:

Facing increased competition from cable and new forms of entertainment on the Internet, the broadcast networks have seen their hold on the American psyche slipping. This trend continued in 2007, when after a fairly promising upfront early in the year, the networks failed to produce the hits they needed to re-establish themselves. As of December, the networks’ prime-time ratings in the key 18- to 49-year-old age category were all down: at NBC by 11%, at CBS by 10% and at ABC by 5%.

   It does not surprise me. The key for 2008 is for those of us in the media to position ourselves toward new technologies—but not be so far ahead that we don’t get any viewers. With YouTube heading north the way it has, and video sharing now commonplace, this could be a very good year for web-based television and independents breaking the stranglehold of the networks, globally.
   We’ve already seen how Lonelygirl15 gripped imaginations during 2006, and with the TV networks largely afraid to experiment with new programmes (or, in the case of Journeyman, under-promote), non-traditional television production may be the winner in the New Year. Posted by Jack Yan, 04:42  permalink

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