Technology is making us all homebodies.
For example, homes equipped with big-screen TVs and surround sound are stiff competition to movie theaters. Add a bag of white cheddar popcorn and, for some, its as good an experience.
Americans go out to the movies on average 3.6 times a year, according to the National Association of Movie Theatres, compared with 4.3 times in 2009. Tickets sold for 2017 totalled 1.24 billion, down 6 percent from 2016 and the lowest since 1995.
The once-strong movie-going set of 18- to 24-year-olds has declined by 17 percent in the last five years.
Its not that Americans are tuning out, in fact, our eyes are glued to more screens than ever. Its just that those screens are now 70 inches wide, or can sit in our laps or be held in our hands.
Americans are also turning away from traditional cable to live-streaming their movies, news, and events digitally.
According to this months Atlantic magazine, nearly half of adults 22 to 45 didnt watch any broadcast or cable TV in 2017, spelling doom and gloom to major networks such as ESPN and Fox News.
Todays younger generations are eons away from being tied down to watching a certain program at a certain time.
And network loyalty? Its not in their lexicon.
Why should they when they can choose from thousands of programs digitally streamed by services such as Netflix, whose subscriptions surged by 47 percent last year.
The proliferation of streaming platforms is also wreaking havoc on traditional advertisers.
Just as millennials have no loyalty to a particular TV network, they also are less likely to identify with the product brands they promote. The three big networks that sponsored specific brands of toothpaste or aftershave have long been supplanted by a whole alphabet of networks, making it anyones guess where to best put their advertising dollars.
Millennials have also turned status-shopping on its head. Thank goodness.
Generic products suit them just fine. Theyre after benefits, not brands. If the contents are identical, why pay more?
SUCH COMPETITION
