Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

TV’s ad dollars aren’t going away but TV’s viewers are

The biggest shows on TV aren’t what they used to be. But TV ad buyers don’t seem to care.

CBS

The TV business just completed its annual “upfront” week, where the big networks advertise their shows to advertisers. As always, this involved glitzy presentations and lots of booze.

One new twist this year: The networks took time to denigrate Facebook, Google and the rest of the digital advertising world.

Those guys have real problems, but they pale compare to TV’s real problem: Its audience is melting away, year by year.

If you’re reading this, you know this. But sometimes it helps to put things in perspective.

So here you go: Here’s a list of TV’s top 10 shows in 2000, and a list of TV’s top shows last year. Can you see the difference?

Which brings us to another ritual: TV ad buyers explaining why they’re going to spend more money than ever on TV, even though they know its audience is going away. This year advertisers are expected to spend more than $72 billion on TV, up from $71 billion and change last year.

That’s going to change, eventually. But not quite yet.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Future Perfect
The 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAIThe 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI
Future Perfect

The Musk v. OpenAI trial is over. Here are the receipts.

By Sara Herschander
Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady