TV Tuesday: Options

[yourlibrarian]

Consumer surveys often focus on TV networks when asking people about their viewing habits. Do broadcast/cable networks matter to you in terms of making viewing choices?

Do you have favorites that you turn to often? Have these changed over time? What about the brand of streaming service?

Comments

[jo]

My cable package includes SO MANY CHANNELS of which I watch maybe 2-3 with anything approaching regularity. Not counting the sports channels, of course. Because of different licensing arrangements, some shows that are only on streaming services in the US are on cable/network channels in Canada. Like all the Star Treks, for example. They air on the Sci-Fi channel, and stream on Crave, which is a Canadian streaming service. So some channels/networks "matter" to me in that sense. That said, I hardly watch any traditional US network shows anymore. I think last "season" I was down to FBI (just the original one), Will Trent, and CSI: Vegas (now cancelled).

Outside of the sports channels, the channels/networks I watch the most are the ones that air syndicated reruns during the supper hour, probably. So Sci-Fi for the Star Treks (and the new seasons of the new Trek shows when they're on, of course), and the Comedy Network for reruns of Friends, Big Bang Theory, etc. Other new shows are so spread out across various other channels/networks that there aren't any that I watch "regularly" at all. It might be one show on FX, one show on Showcase, one show on W... And I never watch anything "live" (except sports), so even when I record shows like the new Treks, I more often than not will also torrent them so that I don't have to deal with fast-forwarding through ad breaks. I am weird, what can I say.

The only streaming services we have are Apple and Prime. Prime is mostly by default rather than choice because you get it if you subscribe to Prime for Amazon deliveries. Apple is by choice. I dumped Netflix because it had TOO much stuff and I was just getting increasingly overwhelmed when trying to find something to watch. Apple's more limited options feels more manageable.

[yourlibrarian]

Other new shows are so spread out across various other channels/networks that there aren't any that I watch "regularly" at all.

This has been true for me for some time. I realize that for advertisers networks are important. But as a viewer, what matters to me are shows. And chances are I don't watch more than 2 per network and none at all for the majority of them.

I get this question a lot for newspapers and magazines as well. I rarely ever read either, but I do read individual articles. And while some sources like the NY Times or The Guardian turn out articles regularly that I might want to read, it's mostly a rather dispersed group, with some being just 1 article read ever. So for the most part the source is irrelevant.

Agreed, Apple has limited offerings but usually very high quality ones. I find Prime rather annoying as they tend to intersperse Prime + Freevee + Stuff you'd have to sign up separately for. I had one show I was watching have S1 on Prime and then further seasons on Freevee, which I didn't realize when I'd started watching it.

Which is to say, I could definitely see people preferring one service to several others. I am about to try out Peacock for the first time this month so I'm curious to see how it's set up as they're all somewhat different.

[jo]

I realize that for advertisers networks are important.

I wonder if that's part of the motivation for the networks to create franchises that all air on the same night, e.g. the FBIs, the Chicago ones (Fire, med, cops), etc. Easier to attract advertisers because they think if you're a fan of one, you'll be a fan of the others as well and that's a built-in, guaranteed audience for 3 hours on a given night?

[yourlibrarian]

Definitely -- they often tend to follow one another. If the spinoffs hold or exceed the original show they generally become the anchors for other nights after a few seasons.

[delphi]

I haven't had cable in over twenty years, but I do think my assumptions about the sensibility an "[insert network] show" might have still plays a part - mostly in the phase between hearing about a show and taking the next step of looking up a trailer or tuning in. For instance, I have different expectations of what a crime or law enforcement show is going to be like on HBO compared to CBS, or what ABC, BBC, and CBC comedies might look like.

I don't really have feelings about different streaming service originals, though, aside from not particularly wanting to patronize Netflix and having positive feelings about smaller services that create all their own content like Dropout.

[yourlibrarian]

That's a good point about how different genres probably have a different focus and content on one option vs another. I imagine that still might hold true for certain streamers such as Peacock but probably not for Paramount+ because CBS content would be just one part of what they offer.

[delphi]

Yeah, exactly - I think streaming services really run the gamut in terms of how much they have a 'brand', and that correlates to how much of their shows are produced by one direct parent company, how much they collect from elsewhere, and how much curation is happening.

I think the brands of different networks and streaming services also get muddled a lot in Canada where I live, because the majority of our entertainment is imported but often gets licensed and distributed in ways that sever or obscure the connection between shows and their sources. ex. Some NBC shows ending up on CTV here and some on Global, or British imports that get labelled Netflix Originals in the US being unavailable on Canadian Netflix and instead being carried by CBC and CBC Gem.

[valoise]

I ditched cable a very long time ago. Initially, I mostly watched Netflix and Hulu, but over the years I've added things like Britbox, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, etc. The five I mentioned still hold most of the shows I watch, plus what ever service carries the new Doctor Who content. Add in Paramount+ for the Star Trek content. I will pick up Peacock (the US NBC streamer) for a month or so during the Olympics but don't feel like it adds enough for long term subscription.

A couple of different times I've thought I might be missing out on live tv networks, so I'd add a live viewing option with Sling or Hulu Live but found I wasn't wasn't watching them enough to justify the price. Now I can get live regional news with Paramount+ and that's enough.

[yourlibrarian]

Our YouTube TV subscription is by far our biggest streaming cost. It is very handy for various things such as PBS viewing and the fact that we watch random shows across different networks, as well as occasional events such as the Olympics, Oscars, etc. We do watch it every week but the bulk of our viewing tends to be whichever
rotating streamer we've got at the moment.

That's very cool about the Paramount+ option! I'll have to see if that could work for us.

[tellshannon815]

Years ago, my grandad used to refuse to watch anything but BBC and would boycott ITV - he did mellow towards it in the end. My uncle got him a Sky subscription, but with all those channels he only really watched particular ones.

I've never been as bad as that. I wouldn't say it matters to me particularly, I do watch quite a bit of Netflix and Amazon Prime.

[yourlibrarian]

I suspect a lot of people have very little affinity for particular networks though clearly that's not universal 🙂 I find that in surveys I'm asked all the time about how recently I've watched given networks or what I think of them. Most of the time I can't recall when I've seen anything on them and can't say anything about them.

That's especially true since when many cable channels started in the U.S. they had particular themes such as country and western or high culture etc. But then many of them changed to where their content is indistinguishable from another network.

[tinny]

oh man, I remember the sweeps months. Not that I ever lived in the US long enough to experience them myself, but I remember how important they were for tv show development. Oh how times have changed...

I used to have preferences when the private channels were new, because their programming is so much worse than the state ones. But I don't watch tv at all anymore these days, because they don't have anything I want to watch. I exclusively watch streaming services or youtube now.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, I wonder if sweeps even matter any more? I'm not often watching broadcast TV and their schedules have become erratic in recent years too so I can't really tell. But you're right about how critical they could be to a show's future -- if not in terms of renewal then in terms of scheduling.