Major US broadcasters see off OTT upstarts as ‘must keep TV’ leaders

Editor ©RapidTVNews | 15-05-2012


The uptake of over the top, cord-cutting, cord-shaving and even cord-trimming have all failed to loosen the hold that major broadcasters have on TV audiences according to the latest edition of the “Must Keep TV” report from Solutions Research Group (SRG).
The fifth edition of the independent tracking survey is based on interviews with 1,400 American consumers in March 2012 who evaluated 73 TV brands and reveals what brands consumers just must have, the ones which are gaining in popularity and others that are slipping, showed that despite the access to many alternatives, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC plus ESPN, Discovery, History, USA, Food Network and TNT are the top ten TV brands American consumers can't do without

ABC was identified as the top “must-keep” TV brand by ov er half (51%) of all respondents overall, narrowly beating CBS, FOX, and NBC. This is the fourth time ABC topped the 'must keep TV' poll out of five waves of research since 2007. Among men, CBS took the top spot, while ABC led in most key female demographics and took the overall top ranking.
The proportion of Americans who would include at least one of the big four networks in their top channels was 77% in 2012, exactly the same proportion as it was last year. The decline in 2007-2009 from a peak of 83% appears to have stabilised.
Bubbling below, strong growth was shown by AMC—owner of The Walking Dead and Mad Men—and PBS, driven by the huge popularity of the Downton Abbey franchise. PBS leapt from #19 to #12 in the “must keep TV” rankings while AMC climbed 34 places to #19 position in the 18-34 demographic and is #30 among adults 18-49.
Yet even though the OT players like Hulu and Netflix were failing to land a glove on the major broadcasters, they were hurting premium movie channels such as Starz, Movie Channel and Cinemax who all declined in rankings in all demographics.