There’s a number of contributing factors working towards the fall of television. It isn’t a full free fall, mind you, it has been on a steady decline from its decades of dominance for a few years, now.
Take a look at the infographic, below, and you’ll see both the steady decline as well as the main reasons why TV viewing has taken such a dip:
[Click for Larger]
What do you think about this drop in television viewing?
Established technology has historically taken a hit to emerging technologies. For example: radio to television.
The emergence and development of the Internet has brought the largest pivot in medium consumption in modern history.
Do you think the Church is ready?
[via Affordable Online Colleges | Image via uncene via Compfight cc]
Travis says
I don’t see an end to TV coming. I do see a shift in delivery. We’ll see creative or manipulative packaging I’m sure too. While methods may be changing, people aren’t viewing less. I still think that live sports are king and no one wants to watch them on DVR or Hulu tomorrow (not that a lot of live sporting events are available later).
As far as the/my church being ready, I don’t see any correlation.
Eric Dye says
I imagine there are many ministries and churches that utilize television that should take this shift in consideration. It is also a great opportunity for churches, ministries and nonprofits to leverage online video — something that many organizations would have never considered as the cost of television was never within their reach. Online video viewing, however, is not out of their reach.
And THAT is the correlation…
🙂
Carl says
I agree with Travis. I think it’s more about delivery shift. People are still spending 5 hours per day watching TV (http://www.statisticbrain.com/television-watching-statistics/). And there are other studies show it higher.
As for significance for the church – I don’t think it’s dramatically different than most of what we have witnessed over the past few decades in terms of expanding choices and increasing media consumption (TV usage went up from 2000 to 2009, even with the increased use of internet).
Eric Dye says
Yes, you and Travis are spot-on. It’s a deliver shift — which gives the Internet an edge, as it is far more agile and can shift and direct its focus on tighter niches.
As for the church, we should take notice to where people are consuming. If we don’t know where our audience is, what’s the point. However, you’re right about it not being dramatic. The consumption of online video has been a gradual shift that the church has done a fairly good job of moving with — just look at the boom of churches streaming services, alone.