General TV loses an hour of daily viewing per viewer since 2020

General TV loses an hour of daily viewing per viewer since 2020

How many Spaniards are still sitting down to watch general TV daily? Fewer than ever. Only one month in 2023 — August, specifically — improved the previous year’s consumption data. The rest were declines, month after month. Conventional TV closed its worst year since records began, and the threshold for industry success has plummeted so sharply that barely 6.7% of launches exceeded their chain’s average by a single point, according to a Geca consultancy study cited by El País. The remaining 67.8% failed.

In other words: of every three new formats, two were watched by no one who wasn’t already there.

Nearly an hour less TV per day since 2020

Barlovento Comunicación’s data are stubborn. In 2022, Spaniards watched 190 minutes of daily general TV, 24 fewer than in 2021 and 50 fewer than in 2020. In 2023, the decline accelerated: January recorded 18 fewer minutes per person per day (-8%), February 13 fewer (-6%), March 24 fewer (-11%), and April 17 fewer (-9%). May, June, and July moderated the plunge to two or four minutes, but September, October, and November saw losses again. Geca reports even steeper declines for the penultimate month: 25 fewer minutes than the same month last year.

Add it all up: since 2020, viewers have stopped watching nearly an hour daily. The ritual of the whole family sitting together before the TV is no longer celebrated in almost any living room.

Prime time has lost half its audience since 2018

The prime time slot, where advertisers crowd in and networks launch their most expensive bets, is in free fall. The big nighttime debuts that five years ago easily surpassed two million viewers now struggle to pass one million. In 2019, MasterChef Celebrity 4 drew 2.5 million and Gran Hermano Vip 7 reached 2.1 million. In 2023, they dropped to 1.2 and 1.1 million, with declines of more than ten percentage points in the reality format, which nonetheless remains one of Telecinco’s strongest brands.

The year’s paradox was penned by Mediaset. It purged Sálvame, the unruly afternoon king, and La Fábrica de la Tele announced its withdrawal pending a refoundation. Its perhaps most successful product of the season, De viernes, is a remodel of its longtime nighttime heartbeat. Everything changes so that almost nothing changes, but with heads rolling along the way.

Why is general TV losing viewers?

The underlying reasons repeat and none are new: proliferation of streaming platforms, post-pandemic habit changes, more free-to-air offerings, an aging audience, and a generational shift focused on the internet. But there are specific aggravating factors noted by those who still turn on the set. Twenty minutes of program and thirty of advertising. Shows starting at 11 PM and ending in the early hours. Cloned formats. Characters dominating the studio for decades. And the sensation — difficult to quantify, impossible to ignore — of wasting life watching a game show.

This is compounded by complaints about informational content. Some argue that certain channels dedicate more than five hours daily to politics, with much of their schedule consisting of talk shows. This is a widespread perception: entertainment has been replaced by commentary. Whether this editorial line explains the viewer exodus or is merely a convenient excuse, there is no agreement.

The age gap: traditional TV is a country for the elderly

The 2022 figures draw a generational abyss. Children watched 1 hour and 16 minutes daily; young adults, 1 hour and 9 minutes; young adults, 1 hour and 56. Middle-aged viewers aged 45 to 64 watched 3 hours and 55 minutes. And retirees over 65 watched 5 hours and 38 minutes. Internet TV added 10.4 million daily viewers, and 1.8 million of them did not tune into a single minute of traditional TV, almost double the previous year.

In March, the groups consuming the most internet TV were those aged 25 to 44 (55 minutes versus 112 of general TV) and children aged 4 to 12 (51 versus 70). At the current rate, children will overtake their parents’ and grandparents’ TV viewing sooner rather than later.

Where is the TV model heading?

One analytical current holds that general TV is condemned to shrink until acquired or absorbed by technologically superior platforms capable of offering personalized on-demand video. Another points to a product problem: if there is nothing of interest, the medium matters less. A third notes that young viewers will never return to a fixed schedule, regardless of content quality. The model of rigid schedules, mass advertising, and captive audiences is bleeding from all three flanks simultaneously.

There is one consolation for those who have spent years arguing about brainwashing and manipulation: if the trend continues, in a few years there will be no need to debate whom they indoctrinate. There will be no one left.