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Viewers Only Watch 10% of Pay-TV Channels: Nielsen (usatoday.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the pay-per-view dept.

Chances are if you have cable, satellite or telco-delivered TV service, you aren't watching all the channels in your package. Heck, you probably aren't even watching half of the channels you pay for. Global information and measurement company Nielsen has conducted some research and found that viewers are actually watching, on average, only about 20 of the 200 channels they pay for. What this means is that a majority of us watch less than 10% of the channels we pay our cable, satellite or other provider for. USA Today reports: Back in May 2014, viewers watched 10.6% of the 197 channels they said they paid for, Nielsen's TV Audience Report found. A year later, viewers watched 9.6% of the 208 channels they got. This year, viewers also watched 9.6% of the 206 channels on their pay-TV service. That doesn't mean customers are unhappy with their service. "There is a jump between 'I'm not watching all the channels I pay for' to 'I'm not going to pay for more channels than I watch,'" says Glenn Enoch, senior vice president of audience insights for Nielsen. "What we do know is that people who have skinny bundles are lower-income than the average, so this is more about household income than viewing behavior." Pay-TV companies need to experiment, for sure, because other consumer behaviors in the Nielsen report suggest traditional TV viewing by those under 35 continues to fall, says Colin Dixon, analyst and founder of nScreenMedia.

6 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. Cable Packages, Duh by Strider- · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Given that they force you to buy 8 channels of dreck just to get the one channel you want, it's not surprising. One of the many reasons why I cut the cord.

    --
    ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
    1. Re:Cable Packages, Duh by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Informative

      Given that they force you to buy 8 channels of dreck just to get the one channel you want, it's not surprising. One of the many reasons why I cut the cord.

      Lets see the utter pile of shit there is available:

      Some 50 shows where sassy women sit around and yap and fight with each other.

      Another bunch where people sing more or less the same music to win prizes.

      Stupid dancing programs where professional athletes always win over some star or presidential candidates tramp daughter because they're professional athletes.

      Shows where yuppies pretend to be rednecks and encourage pedophilia

      Shows where superior people pop dozens of larvae out of a clown car vagina, and stand up for one of them being a pedophile.

      Strange shows with really weid looking guys with weird looking hair and stuff, but with wives who are oddly attractive.

      Shows where peope who never met each other sign a contract to marry each other.

      Marriage saving shows for kooks

      Must be a million shows about people in Alaska.

      "Science" shows where humans are stupid, and apparently every advancement in history was made by aliens.

      My better half watches some old reruns and court TV, so I see the ads for the weirdo shows.

      Then there are the commercials Sue this person sue that medicine company, Suee everyone. If you win an annuity in your suit, there's another company that will give you a lump sum if you give tehm the annuity.

      So I'm left with cartoon channel, and The Science channel, and HBO.

      Otherwise, its Youtube science and space/airplane vids. I can't be the only one who watches less than 1% of their crap.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    2. Re:Cable Packages, Duh by swalve · · Score: 5, Informative

      That's kind of their business model. ESPN costs $7 a month (or whatever), and they give you 15 other channels for free along with it. If they didn't give you those channels, ESPN would still cost $7. Same deal with whatever channel you value.

  2. Got a better deal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Meanwhile, I watch about 97% of what I download. Plus shows from Netflix and Amazon.

  3. On the Web by dcollins · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Meanwhile, I only tend to visit about 20 of the 1 billion sites on the World Wide Web (about 0.000002%), and yet here I am paying full price for my Internet access.

    --
    We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
  4. Re: Can't watch TV, it's all pro Hillary by orlanz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Right, wonder what your back in the days were... Decades of gangs, prohibition, mafia, corrupt jails, corrupt police departments, insider trading, corporate fraud, war on drugs, welfare fraud, Medicare fraud, Ponzie schemes, housing bubble, stock bubble, too big to fail, etc.

    Most of the criminals involved there weren't even touched. Some were even bailed out by taxpayer funds. Or did you mean before 50 years ago... When entire sections of our society were treated less equally?