Are people still watching TV?

CBS EVP and CRO (Chief Research Officer), David Poltrack: "Short answer:yes, more than ever"

jaffe window-cleaner, tea-gentleman and CCBSO (chief counter BS officer), Joseph Jaffe: "Slightly longer answer: yes, more than ever. But just not advertising"

Note: The CCBSO title is not aimed at David, and the similarity of CBS acronyms is purely coincidental (kinda)

Back to the question of the day, "Are people still watching TV?" I concur with DP that they are. And the DVR people are watching even more. I also agree that in this era of fragmentation, the brand leaders are favorably positioned compared to their counterparts. That's good news for CBS and the networks, as well as the established cable brands like ESPN for example. (But it certainly does not imply "race over" - think of it as a marathon and we've just entered the halfway mark. So often, the pacesetters fade from contention...)

Poltrack says "content is king." Content is King. Now more than ever. Poltrack is 3 for 3, but it is also this assertion that may very well prove him to be completely wrong...

The past few years have seen the USA's, F/X's, Bravo's and premium channels like the HBO's clean up at the Award Shows. Sopranos, SATC, Monk, The Shield, The Closer etc are winning the hearts of consumers, not Ghost Whisperer, Joey or that other series with the dude from Ed (name escapes me and evidently millions of others)

What the hell happened to Threshold and why did CBS summarily dismiss this promising series? It wasn't because of CONTENT; it was because of ratings...

And while we're at it, should we talk about Arrested Development or Sports Night?

Or even the Book of Daniel, which wasn't cancelled for content reasons, but rather for "extraneous" pressures being applied...

The reality is that the question, "are people still watching TV?" is totally irrelevant. The real questions are more likely:

• What are people watching (on) TV?
• How are people watching TV?
• Why are people watching TV?
• Where are they watching TV?
• On which devices are they watching TV?

By "what", I also refer to consumer generated content (RocketBoom for example), as well as DVD's and Gaming

By "how", I also refer to time-, place- and format-shifting

By "why", I also refer to the fact that there used to be no alternatives. TV was the only game in town. No more....

By "where", I also refer to watching TV at work, and on the road (mobile)

By "on which devices", I also refer to "on which devices" (PSP, iPod etc)

And then there's IPTV or the reality of a broadband powered consumption experience, in which case the question would be, "Is it even TV that people are watching?"

The MediaPost article closes with the following gem: "Clearly, most people feel DVR is something they can live without." Ouch. But he's right, isn't he? Although I'm guessing people once said that about....the TV itself.

I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on I go into another room and read a good book. Groucho Marx

It is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome. TS Eliot

Television: a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well done. Ernie Kovacs

Diatribe Epilogue: Let's not forget that advertising revenues (same publication/same day: networks have put the quarterly Network Revenue Report on "hiatus"; Q4 revenue numbers have been supressed) are also reflecting that advertisers are not watching TV, but instead focusing their attention on "alternatives" to watching TV.

Let's focus on the solution...instead of trying to pad and diminish the magnitude of the problem, shall we? TV is important. Content is critical. Advertising that supports/endorses that content on that TV however, is anything on the continuum of irrelevant to not as viable (nor effective) as it once was.

End quote.