Millennials cut the cord, kill TV networks

Video might have killed the radio star but the internet looks to be killing commercial TV. On 16 September 1956, Bruce Gyngell stood before a TV audience for the first time. ‘Welcome to Television’, he said. Sadly, he’s not around to bid free-to-air television’s goodbye. Signs that the days of commercial television might be numbered have been around for a while. Over the past three years, the share prices of the three major commercial networks has fallen with Nine Entertainment (ASX:NEC), Sevenwest Media (ASX:SWM) and Ten Network (ASX:TEN) down around 20%, 58% and 60% respectively. That shouldn’t be a surprise. More and more viewers are ‘cutting the cord’, replacing their traditional TV viewing habits with new online platforms that allow consumers greater flexibility in what they watch – often ad-free - and when. In a recent Roy Morgan finding, the number of people aged 14 years and over that claim to watch no commercial TV in an average weekday has more than doubled, from 7% percent in 2008 to 15% in 2015. View full article here: (VIEW LINK)