Younger viewers really fleeing traditional TV

Younger viewers are fleeing TV at an accelerated pace.

The trend should surprise no one who has seen the rise of Netflix, a resurgence of video games and a shift to digital. But new Nielsen data show a widening gap in viewing behavior among young and old that’s alarming some network executives.

For the four weeks ending Oct. 28, coinciding with the start of the official TV season, the number of people ages 18 to 34 using TV has plunged 15% and is down 36% from 2014. The drop-off among teens — 18% from last year and 48% since 2014 — is even more pronounced.

“It looks like a big, daunting number,” said Peter Katsingris, senior VP of audience insights at Nielsen, and marks a sharp contrast with the mere 2% drop from 2017 among folks 55 and older, the most loyal viewers. But he says it reflects the new millennial mindset.

“Younger generations are growing up with more choices at their fingertips,” he said. “They don’t know that you had to watch at 3 o’clock on a Wednesday if you wanted to see a show.” For them, dependency on a network schedule is “like looking at a typewriter.”

Brian Hughes, executive VP at ad firm Magna, projects that 47% of the video watched by the 18-to-34 crowd is streaming, up from 41% last year and 21% in 2014, and he expects the figure to top 50% in 2019.

For CW, which targets the audience that’s bailing from TV schedules, “multiplatform” viewing over a longer time span “has always been part of our business model,” said network president Mark Pedowitz.

But that pace is accelerating. Close to half of the “Riverdale” audience is online, on CW’s own app and website.