Is terrestrial TV actually being replaced by streaming?
April 22, 2024
For the last decade or so, we’ve heard a lot of prominent voices in the entertainment industry claim that the rise of streaming services spells the inevitable death of traditional TV broadcasts. For all these predictions, terrestrial TV platforms are still very much around alongside their streaming counterparts around the world, and the balance is more complicated than many had anticipated.
So what exactly is the situation between traditional and streaming at the moment, and is the streaming takeover ever likely to happen?
The Advantages of Streaming
On paper, streaming platforms would appear to hold all the advantages over traditional setups. To start with, the ability to choose what to watch and when to watch it is a huge convenience, and also comes with the plus point that customers know what they are paying for well ahead of time. Being online, they are also able to adapt online-only offers and have often taken models from other industries like online casinos for it.
When casinos create offers, they have the flexibility to time them and rotate new offers as best suits their customers. Any site that offers a casino bonus is able to adapt to new conditions quickly, and in that regard, streaming services are the same. A provider can make things like sign-up bonuses or free trials and change them out regularly which allows them to keep on top of trends.
The State of Traditional TV
All of the doomsaying about ‘old-fashioned’ television providers disappearing has failed to account for the millions of viewers still tuning in daily. This isn’t to say that the numbers haven’t been decreasing. Reports covering 2021 to 2022 show a massive decrease of 4 per cent in viewership, which doesn’t sound like a lot but it was the biggest drop ever in Ofcom records.
Terrestrial TV in the UK does have an advantage over other similar services around the world in that anyone with a set already pays the licence fee. This means that people would be more inclined to make use of BBC channels considering they’re already paying.
Is The End Coming?
The idea that terrestrial TV will eventually die off does seem to have merit. By that same report above, the core demographic it relies on is now in the 60+ age range, meaning that the numbers are far more likely to decrease in the future.