Where have all the kids gone?

Wow, how dellusional are these network heads?
The networks have treated viewers like crap for years. Delayed releases, scattered programming and a general contempt for the viewer. Our generation, this 16-39 demo, got sick of it. And we just found our own way to watch what we want to watch, without the networks.
So what do they do? Complain. And what do they offer us to actually come to their network? Stripped back reality show after reality show or lower-middle class family dramas. Where’s the diversity in programming? When’s the last time you saw an Australian comedy on network television? Sci-fi? Thriller? Nothing but drama and reality.
Of course we’re not going to watch. But they do nothing to rectify the situation. They should be trying everything they can to get this demo on board with them. We’re the future. If not, they’ll go the way of the newspapers. Currently, Australian television is a lame duck in waiting. They don’t have to be, but I can’t see the networks changing.

Where have the kids gone?

Reddit, KiK, YouTube, Instagram and, off course, Pirate Bay.

Totally agree with Bem above. Tv networks treated the dem like crap so dem went straight to the source and downloaded the whole series.

Have to cater to the viewer thesedays not vice versa.

Most people i know use a vpn to get netflix.

Oz tv networks are dinosaurs

TV networks try to appeal to 16-to-39 year-olds. Which age group has the highest spending power? The over 50s. Go figure.

I’m 24 and dont’ watch TV because it’s complete drivel.

Meanwhile, the internet beckons.

There is not one valid reason for a young person to tune into a FTA television network anymore. Not one. The networks are delusional to think they would choose shitty derivative mindless concepts (usually franchises that repeat themselves year-on-year) full of wallpaper advertising and shoehorned with blunt-force “integration”. They’re as dead as a dodo.

Tune into Big Brother to see this year’s “twist” (wait, let me guess – someone is a hermaphridite)? Please, it’s offensive.

I haven’t even owned an aerial cord for years.

“TV” to young people these days simply means the large screen that you plug your media-device into. Why wouldn’t you choose to watch ad-free programming that has actual production values; allows you to watch it when you want; and doesn’t jam advertising down your throat featuring zombie-like morons waggling red fingers at you.

I stopped watching TV in 2010 – when I was about 20. I still have to buy it though, I don’t know what I’m buying but it all sounds like rubbish.

*Actually it was 2006/2007

I mean sure, I’d watch TV if I had an HTPC, but then I’d be watching stuff that I either bought on DVD, or downloaded. Why on earth would I waste my time watching Australian reality TV all bloody day?

I’m not in that target demo…in fact I’m over 40.

However recently my TV of 6 years died and the cost to repair it was more than a replacement. I didn’t have time to make a purchase so spent about two weeks without a TV and honestly…it didn’t bother me at all. I was able to watch anything I wanted via ‘catch up TV’ apps or itunes (I used to be a pirate but I do try to remember that creative people need to get paid for the work they do so don’t steal content like I used to). I also discovered a whole bunch of new programmes that our networks have passed over for one reason or another. And I can watch it when and how it suits me.

Point is…FTA TV just isn’t the ‘must have’ it once was. Now if I’ve figured it out at my advanced age (over 40 being ancient in ad circles) I’m pretty sure most of the kids have come to that conclusion sooner than me.

I did end up buying a TV but it’s a small one I can also use as a computer monitor and I really don’t feel like I need much else at this point.

I know people who live in share houses who don’t have a tv. They just all use their laptops or ipads. Live sport is on at the pub.

As a result sporting organisations are cleaning up on broadcast rights as this is the only stable format left for network TV.

No one knows what will be popular in 5 years, except sport will still get predicable ratings. Australians will always watch Cricket, AFL, NRL and Tennis.

Oh for goodness sake…. people WILL watch stuff they WANT to see. In all demographics … Errr… so make that content. How hard cam that be to undersatnd?

Can I send the bill for consultancy to someone. I reckon its worth $10K. For each network (except the ABC that has it right. iView is superb. Commercial TV equivalents are CRAP!)

I am an ex-pat living in NZ, and if you think Australian TV is crap, don’t come here. Saying that, I use a VPN to get my Australian content, along with a larger than most satellite dish. I NEVER watch regular tv anymore, as all the FTA channels broadcast the same crap, year after year after year. The only decent stuff is on iView or SBS On Demand. FTA channels can go to hell for all I care. Their ‘local’ content is laughable, and generally dire. Long live the ABC and SBS.

It doesn’t have to be like this. Kids have gone away from TV because kids are the hardest audience to fool.

I started my career in children’s theatre 45 years ago, believe me, kids will spot a fake or a fraud a mile away, and if you fail to keep them interested they can be very unforgiving.

Remember, ten years is bugger all, and that’s all it takes for a kid to become an adult . Lose them for 12 months and you’ve lost them for good.

When theatre was partially eclipsed by cinema which in turn was itself damaged by television in the late 50s, they didn’t curl up and die; both theatre and cinema forged ahead and lifted their game, and they are still with us today.

Television, once an art form, has been operated by greedy “corporate wallies” “easy come charlies” and frauds for years, as soon as it experienced a challenge, it fell over and started kicking and screaming.

The guaranteed big bucks and the easy roll has gone, now its time to start behaving like television producers and actually produce television. Get good at what you used to be good at before you started shoving people around and grabbing the loot.

Producing News coverage, documentaries and dramas takes real qualified people who know what they are doing, not inflated business degree holders who wear the right clothes and attend all the meetings.

You cannot run a medium as diverse and demanding as television, by acquiring a business degree and setting up a company, you need a team, a family of committed people who are given the facilities to concentrate upon their craft and to grow a productive department which you ( with your business degree) can learn how to run smoothly and to mutual benefit.

Its quite amazing to discover what audience loyalty will bring you , once you earn it, by giving them quality viewing.

Oh, and stop looking to the US for inspiration, this is Australia.

What does Free to air provide, as a platform, that’s

1) different to other forms of media

2) superior to other forms of media

Because from what Aussie FTA is telling me and my generation, it provides endless Bert Newton, crappy Reality TV, and all the ads I can eat. WITH A TWIST! OMG

Hell, even iTunes TV is superior because it provides me what I want to watch at an agreed price that isn’t obnoxious.

“But free to air is free, dummy”

Yes, but the chief failing of FTA TV is that the ads are bad enough to turn mediocre content into completely unwatchable drivel. If I offered you a free turd on a stale bun, it wouldn’t entice you to take it, would I?

And Subscription TV ads? Oh come on guys, you’re already paying a fee to access the channels. Ad Revenue on subscription TV is quite literally Foxtel having it’s cake whilst eating it.

@ Encyclic!

Good questions, no answer today, but once upon a time in television land, there were definite answers to those questions.

Early television was radio with pictures, later came cinematic and theatrical pretensions and eventually mature television.

Following the second world war, the US perfected the blend between commercial financing and artistic, newsworthy and entertainment endeavors; the sweet stream turned into a river and later a flood of wealth, which, instead of further strengthening the art form, attracted greedy media men (so called) and bean counters who weakened it.

The world wide web arrived with such momentum that it created a vacuum powerful enough to drain the flood and leave the ailing FTA Television high and dry.

Australia came late to television and adopted the model already set out by the US, we also rode the flood wave and eventually landed upon a sand dune, a different dune to that of the US, one more remote and a lot drier.

The reality is that most targeted group are 25-45 year old couples and families. These are the people with the most income and they spend the most of it.

Actually young people are skint, and the over 50s, while wealthy, are tightwads and demand continually that “the gummint” give them everything for free.

The youth market (16-25) is only important in establishing brand reputation so that they buy products when they start families and actually spend money.
I’m not sure they would have that much interest in the main analogue TV channels, which seem to mainly consist of song contests, dull US cop programs, and news and current affairs stories about old and ugly “battlers”.

Oh you like to download? Make sure Murdoch doesn’t kill the NBN with his anti labour headlines…