Gli spettatori sono “veri cattivi” del declino televisivo, afferma l’ex capo del canale 4
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/media/article/viewers-are-true-villains-of-tv-decline-says-ex-channel-4-boss-grbcvrb82
di Skavau
Gli spettatori sono “veri cattivi” del declino televisivo, afferma l’ex capo del canale 4
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/media/article/viewers-are-true-villains-of-tv-decline-says-ex-channel-4-boss-grbcvrb82
di Skavau
35 commenti
“A former Channel 4 commissioner has blamed “cowardly and unimaginative” viewers for abandoning TV for TikTok and YouTube.”
Yes, because the most effective way to bring back viewers to TV is not to create original & compelling storylines but to namecall consumers unimaginative cowards.
Last time I checked channel 4, it was an endless cycle of old Simpson repeats and horse racing – maybe that’s the problem.
I for one don’t enjoy watching more advert minutes than programme minutes nor the mindless rubbish of constant reality tv, soaps, period dramas and game shows.
I love how he says viewers are unimaginative when the he has Gogglebox to his name. I can’t think of anything less imaginative than watching people watch TV.
I just like to watch things that interest me, which happen to be mostly on YouTube. Also not a big fan of adverts, and playing TV licence, which is why I don’t watch it.
Ironically, it was Channel 4’s vulgar programming years ago that pushed me to cancel my Sky subscription and abandon broadcast TV altogether for streaming
I go to YouTube because it has better things for me to watch. I’d watch TV if it wasn’t 15 repeat episodes of the same “reality” tv crap that hasn’t changed for 20 years on a daily basis.
Then of course its 20% ads whereas I pay less than the cost of a TV license for ad-free youtube.
Kind of funny I watched [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxYZY8zD6B0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxYZY8zD6B0) today in which James Smith mentioned he was producing a documentary with C4 but cancelled it because they kept trying to force him down a path for “better TV”.
Talk about victim culture. Trying to blame or justify action against consumers for their own failings.
Traditional TV channels and the BBC have failed to innovate or cater to younger demographics in the face of other entertainment media that is better / cheaper.
I haven’t watched live TV in years. It’s either shit reality shows or ads. No thanks I’ll keep choosing streaming and decide which shows I want to watch – without ads!!
When the post popular thing on tv is baking how can any of it be exciting? Ironically, as everyone else has said, it’s all the same old crap.
I simply can’t imagine sitting down and watching YouTube. Maybe I’m just old!
Really trying for a Gerald Ratner moment here, aren’t they?
Shitting on your consumers usually isn’t a good strategy.
In 2024 I realised that I had spent £174.50 on my TV licence to watch two programs: the men’s Wimbledon final and the live general election results.
I haven’t renewed this year. And Wimbledon was more fun in the pub.
I tend to think the decline is partly due to the total gentrification of the media and creative class. Working class representation is poor and it shows, your average person is going have a hard time relating to the mediocre programming being churned out.
My ex-housemate worked for Channel 4’s Bristol office and apparently it was stacked with all ambition, no talent rich kids.
*insert Principal Skinner meme here*
In all seriousness though – the only things TV can do better than stuff like YouTube or to a lesser extent Tiktok is the higher budget side of things – like your prestige dramas, Attenborough documentaries etc.
When it comes to anything else – some of the ‘amateur’ (in quotes because I’m aware a lot of channels have a fairly decent budget) stuff produced on Youtube for things like travel docs, video essays and especially news based stuff is a lot better and caters for far more niches than anything traditional TV or even the major streamers can commission.
They’ve phrased it really badly, but I get the point. Viewers preference is shifting. Why watch the limited options on traditional TV if you can search for and find tons of content of your preference?
I pay monthly for YouTube premium whereas I wouldn’t pay Channel 4 for Naked Attraction.
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Stop putting shite on, and people would watch, simple as.
I’m not going to sit through a repeat or something I dont particularly find interesting, loaded with advert breaks every 15 minutes when I can stick YouTube on and watch something I actually enjoy, ad-free (I use adblockers) and actually enjoy it.
Times change. it’s the same as people shopping on the highstreet, the Internet has changed the world so much and love it or hate it, I don’t think there’s much chance of ever going to back to what we had once upon a time.
Not only this, but people hate paying for a TV licence because of the sheer amount of shite on telly.
Factual YouTube content is much more tailored, interesting, and engaging than broadcast television. The best history, philosophy, theology, and humanities content is right there without endless dilution required to keep even a passing interest.
Looking at what C4 are broadcasting tonight, Taskmaster (which they nicked from another channel), a repeat of Bake Off (also nicked), and a repeat of some Jimmy Carr quiz show. I mean at best they’re just phoning it in here
One thing C4 do have is good historical documentaries but those are always much slower to research and produce than entertainment type shows
Maybe channel 4 and E4 should stop with the endless reality TV horseshit that they keep churning out? No? Ok then, I’ll continue to not watch
*Am I out of touch?*
*No, it is the viewers who are wrong.*
RIP Broadcast Television, 1936-2022.
It’s gone, departed, is no more, joined the choir invisibule, etc.
Cowardly for not watching repeats of old shite and the constant harassment of adverts, all while paying for a TV license?
It’s the dying words from an industry who have been allowed to take the piss with consumers and are now bathing in the consequences.
Perhaps if they actually made some decent quality shows things might change.
I don’t watch tiktok or youtube (other than for research) and I haven’t watched channel 4 for (probably) years. BBC and ITV manage to make content I watch so the fault isn’t with the viewers.
Channel 4 used to be brave. Now I dunno what it even is
Channel 4 are in danger of becoming the new channel 5 for all their low quality garbage they are producing. Apart from Taskmaster, I can’t remember the last thing I watched on Channel 4, it was probably Patience
Am I out of touch?
No, it’s the viewers who are wrong.
Channel 4 used to be at the fore front of pop culture and getting ahead of trends especially in the late 90s now they get something good like Black Mirror, run it for a few seasons then sell it off to netflix or whatever for a chunk of cash. BBC do the same I.e. last kingdom.
Why would I bother with terrestrial tv now when it ends up on a different streaming service within two years and all future seasons being solely on that service?
There is no way this guy is comparing Mr beast, a channel aimed at kids, to real rv shows designed for adults. Is this guy that out of touch? He’s clueless. The real competition is streaming services like apple, netflix, Disney plus. Not me beast, it’s a completely different audience.
The reason British TV channels are dying is because they are making series for an ever shrinking audience, old people. They don’t give us any foreign series to watch, they have too many ads. They don’t have the budget to make cool shows like they used to due to trying to appeal to the UK only. Bin your TV channels off, consolidate into an online UK streaming site and make it available worldwide. Then you can compete with netflix and the like.
TV will die in 30 years and everything will be online. Accept it.
“You just don’t get it”, said every business with a product that people don’t want, before inevitably asking for a bailout from the taxpayer.
I’m instantly reminded of John Goodman’s character in The Internship, where he’s having to let people go because people don’t buy watches anymore, and when he asks his assistant for the time she pulls her phone out of her pocket despite wearing a watch herself.
oooooh so its not the bland boring grey rubbish or the woke slop they put on the tv thats the problem …. its the viewers fault for not slurping it down?
ahhh okay
Given a choice of;
Internet – watch anything you want, at any time I want.
TV – watch what they choose to broadcast, with scheduling restraints (admittedly this is less of a problem these days but still present to some degree) and unskippable/unblockable adverts.
Hmmm I guess I’m a villain.
Terrestial TV is dead. And soon subscription TV will be full of adverts aswell. Its a constant cycle.