media post response

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=146589

For our post this week I read a short article about the decline in traditional methods of watching television among urban audiences. The article states that many who live in cities are beginning to get their TV fix via laptop, gaming console (Netflix or Hulu), and even from their phones.

The article went on to say that many of those who are using these non-traditional methods of watching TV are minorities. The percentages of Latinos, Asians and African-Americans watching on new platforms are much higher than the percentage of white people.

These numbers however do not surprise me. With cable becoming digital it becomes much more expensive not to mention that many cable companies offer the extra channels such as HBO and Showtime, watching TV on a television can become a financial burden. The minorities that live in cities are often times closer to the poverty line than a white person who lives in the city. This is not always true however the percentages show that there is some truth to this stereotype.

The rise of people who have begun watching TV through other mediums but TV may have the network companies re-thinking their methods of getting their programs and advertising across. Networks will need to find ways to entice their advertisers to stick to the television model because advertising on the internet is much cheaper and a much wider audience is exposed to the advertisement.

It seems that the actual television has become the odd man out and cable is becoming less and less relevant which is also making the digital high definition law, which was passed a few years ago, almost pointless if people aren’t using the boxes that are being put on their TVs.