Tuesday, June 29, 2021

How Dead is Cable TV? Part II

Which groups do we target next? Cable television still has its perks but it's not always in a good spot. How about some Disney and NBCUniversal channels? All of this courtesy of ctv.kwayisi.com by the way.

Disney has a lot of stuff given their acquisition of Fox a couple of years ago. Fox News has dropped a bit at 31 percent for a year's span, but is still a leading channel in ratings. They don't bow to the same things CNN does. Fox Sports 1 has had a one year drop of 26 percent. Eventually, Skip Bayless and Colin Cowherd get tiring for some and the sports aren't all that interesting when they do get them. The rest of that brand are very small, though Business has had struggles.

The FX brand is one of the more interesting ones. But title name for the channel has dropped in average views in years. While a 14 percent decline compared to last year is small, it's nearing an average 200 thousand. Too many of the same movies airing all the time if I had to guess. No syndicated stuff other than Mike and Molly (and even that gets monotonous) and not enough original stuff. A 13 percent decline for FXX and an average of nearly 100 thousand. Kind of the same situation, but with a few other shows for syndication. Their idea from eight years ago is slowly dropping real badly. And FX Movie Channel is really small, but suffering a bit at the moment. Can't comment too much on it.

It'll be hard to determine what Disney's number have that are truthful. But their Channel and Junior channels have not suffered greatly at 7 and 1 percent compared to where they were last year. XD has dropped a bit at 23 percent. Outside of Christmas stuff, Freeform keeps struggling. A 17 percent decline is not horrible, but not good. Maybe less Shrek airings (lots of other films, too) and having a few other shows in syndication would be beneficial.  I'm surprised they have National Geographic. It's at a 24 percent decline, but it fluctuates wildly. This could rebound just a little. It's Wild channel hasn't struggled at only 2 percent.

The sports ain't doing good. ESPN has done better, but a 300 plus percent increase isn't spectacular if they can't hold on to their audience. Fluctuation the key factor. Same with ESPN 2. Even for as small as the College Sports channel is, it's done better. I'd imagine it will do even stronger numbers this upcoming fall.

NBCUniversal has a bit of channels. CNBC had a huge boost last year, probably because of the pandemic. Compared to last year, it's at a 26 percent decline. Still, people will watch it for the stocks. MSNBC's decline is like Fox News, though numbers are just behind Fox. They must be doing something grand if they aren't reaching CNN's low numbers. In terms of entertainment, Bravo has seen fluctuation, but a downward slope now. Same with the E! channel. They both roughly air the same films and not enough original stuff they re-air (though less Kardashian crap is good. Need more Modern Family reruns and other syndicated shows.)

I didn't know they had Oxygen. Whatever the case,  an 18 percent decline with some fluctuation. That can also be applied to SyFy. I know standards are low for the channel in recent years, but if Harry Potter can't save them, what can?  USA Network does better than most cable channels, but has a 10 percent decline. They have stepped up in movies aired, something I haven't seen to this extent in at least 15 years or more. But they are very much the Dick Wolf network with Law and Order and whatever Chicago show they have airing constantly. Eventually, you burn out.

NBC Sports Network will be gone after this year. The 700 plus percent increase does not save the problems it had from last year. With ups and downs, Golf Channel has been getting an interest for now with over 60 percent of an uptick. As it stands, Disney has a lot more at stake with what they got from Fox. I know the Internet is used more, but the channels are suffering the most from them compared to NBCUniversal. Speaking of them, they can recover at any point. But I don't expect viewers to stick with them consistently. Who do you think would survive longer? 

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Geeks and Jocks: Bonus Episode 7

 Bonus episode https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ryan-sullivan1gaj/episodes/Bonus-Episode-7-e27h1a2