Teens and Millennial Network Television Viewing Is Down 25%

The interesting challenge for the media industry is that the problem is not necessarily the content, it's the platform or channel over which it is delivered.

Networks will either have to alter the the network business dramatically - or exit it altogether and focus on what they do best that consumers actually want. JL

Matt Rosoff reports in Business Insider:

Viewership of broadcast TV shows on the big four networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC) among 18-to-49-year-olds is down 25 percent from last year. What are they doing instead? Recording shows and watching them later, watching via on-demand services like Netflix, or skipping TV and watching on their phones in apps like YouTube, Facebook, or Snapchat.
Network TV is in big trouble — according to Nielsen as reported by AdAge, viewership of broadcast TV shows on the big four networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC) among 18-to-49-year-olds is down 25 percent from last year.
That's probably because younger viewers are no longer tuning in for TV shows at their appointed times.  According to historical Nielsen data charted here for us by Statista, teens and millennials are spending a lot fewer hours watching "traditional" (non-time-shifted) TV every week than they were just four years ago.
The drop is steepest among 12 to 17-year-olds: In 2011, they were watching about 25 hours of live TV a week. Now, they're watching only 15.
What are they doing instead? Recording shows and watching them later, watching them via on-demand services like Netflix and Apple TV, or skipping TV shows altogether and watching other video on their phones in apps like YouTube, Facebook, or Snapchat.
Statista