The combined weekly reach of Philadelphia's broadcast television stations has slipped to 73.9% of all adults, according to Nielsen. These stations include KYW, WPVI, WCAU, WHYY, and WTFX.  

The combined Philadelphia TV audience now falls behind cable programming at 76.0 and just ahead of streaming platforms at 63.6%. To put this virtual dead heat into perspective, none of the three video media is a match for Philadelphia radio which reaches more than 86% of local adults every week.

But although the reach of broadcast TV, cable, and streaming are neck-and-neck, the share of time consumers spend with each of these media is dramatically different.

According to Nielsen research, 3.5 million people in the Philadelphia area will likely participate in the upcoming election on November 8th. To sway these voters, candidates and political action committees are expected to spend a record amount on advertising.

AdImpact, a company that measures advertising expenditures by political campaigns, says more than $3.6 billion have been spent to reach voters so far in 2022. This puts spending on a course to obliterate the record level of campaign dollars set during the 2020 presidential elections.

Despite crumbling ratings, through August 1st, 58% of all political spending has been dished out to local TV stations, according to AdImpact.

Nielsen reports that since 2017, the reach of broadcast TV stations like KYW, WPVI, WCAU, WHYY, and WTFX has decayed by 10%.

During the past seven days. according to Nielsen, only 73.7% of local consumers tuned in to Philadelphia television stations like KYW, WPVI, WCAU, WHYY, and WTFX.  TV's diminishing reach among adults 18 and older has been eclipsed by the audience size for social media, cable, and Philadelphia radio. Furthermore, streaming video services such as Netflix, Hulu, Prime, and Disney+ are quickly reaching parity with over-the-air options.

The erosion of local TV station audiences is stunning when comparing prime-time ratings from the past.  In 1980, the highest-ranked TV show was Cheers with a 21.3 rating. The 30th-ranked show was The Wonder Years with a 14.2 rating.

Twenty years later, Survivor was the number one show with a 17.4 rating and Family Law was the 30th ranked show with an 8.8 rating.

Finally, in 2019, Sunday Night Football was the number one ranked show with a 10.9 rating. Survivor tied with Dancing With The Stars in 30th place with a 5.5 rating.

It is stunning to think that the number one TV show in 2019 had a 24% lower rating than the 30th-ranked show in 1980.

Right now, at least one of the 237,665 businesses located in the Delaware Valley is thinking about using the phrase 'March Madness' as part of upcoming advertising and marketing plans. Why not? It's a great use of alliteration. It's a familiar term. And, it's that time of year.

A furniture store in King of Prussia might think it would be clever to use 'March Madness' in its commercials on Philadelphia radio to promote a big spring sale. A non-profit in Cherry Hill feels it would be a good way to describe its charity fun run on social media and online advertising. A sports bar in Bucks County believes it would be a no-brainer to use the term in streaming video and audio ads to bring in scores of basketball fans.

It is, indeed,  tempting for a Philadelphia small business owner to use this term for advertising or marketing purposes. But,  to avoid a costly legal battle, the use of this trademarked phrase should be a non-starter. Here's why.

Every week, 2.7 million Delaware Valley adults watch video programs delivered via the internet. This content goes by several interchangeable names, including OTT (Over-The-Top Television), CTV (Connected TV), and Streaming Video. For this article, we will refer to this type of content as Streaming TV.

Unlike traditional TV, cable, and satellite where the viewer needs to be in a fixed location, Philadelphia consumers can access streaming TV anywhere using an internet-connected device. These include SmartTVs, Firesticks, Roku, smartphones, computers, laptops, tablets, and gaming consoles.

In all, according to Nielsen, 94.2% of Philadelphia households have one or more devices capable of connecting to streaming TV. Although this medium is still new, streaming TV now rivals legacy media in its ability to reach local consumers.

Every week, Philadelphia consumers are spending more-and-more time engaged with streaming TV.

It wasn't too long ago when advertising on Philadelphia television stations was considered the gold standard for marketing by local business owners. But over the past few years, the number of viewers reached by KYW, WPVI, WCAU, WHYY, and WTFX has plummeted. In all only 75% of adult consumers now tune-in to at least one of these channels during the week, according to Nielsen.

The consumption of video content isn't diminishing among Delaware Valley consumers. What has changed, though, is how they are watching it.

In November, according to Nielsen, the share of time watching broadcast television has fallen behind other video options including cable programing and internet-delivered choices such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and hundreds of other streaming networks.

It used to be so simple. When a small business owner wanted to advertise on Philadelphia television, there were only a few options including, KYW, WPVI, WCAU, WHYY, and WTFX. But slowly, the number of options expanded to include cable channels provided by Xfinity, DISH, DirecTV, and Comcast.

Heading in 2022, local advertisers have even more options as internet-connected devices deliver hundreds of more programming choices to Delaware Valley consumers. Collectively, this type of content is called OTT (Over-The-Top-Television) or CTV (Connected-Television). For the purpose of this discussion, OTT & CTV will be referred to singularly as streaming video.

Streaming video can be viewed on any device that can connect to the internet. This includes computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Programing can also be accessed using a smart-TV, Roku Stick, Amazon Fire Stick, or a game console. In all, according to Nielsen, 94.2% of Philadelphia households own a device capable of receiving streaming video.

In all, says Nielsen, 2.7 million consumers watch streaming video content every week. Combined, these internet channels now reach more adults every week than local newspapers, podcasts, and digital audio services like Pandora, Spotify, Sirius/XM. Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio.

Surprisingly, streaming video now reaches almost as many adults as local TV and local cable.

Every week, according to Nielsen, 4.1 million adult consumers in the Delaware Valley watch something on television. But, of course, the definition of what it means to watch TV has changed since the time when the number of available viewing options could be counted on the fingers of a single hand.

Today, Philadelphia consumers have a gargantuan number of viewing choices. This includes programs from stations like KYW, WPVI, WCAU, WHYY, and WTFX. Or maybe cable and satellite systems like Xfinity, DISH, DirecTV, and Comcast. There's also content delivered over the internet from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime.

No longer are Philadelphia consumers tied to the 21-inch Zenith in their living rooms. Instead, TV can be watched on giant LCDs, smartphones, and tablets from any room in the house, in the backseat of their cars, or practically anywhere else.

The best way to think about TV watching in Philadelphia is in terms of three buckets:

1. Over-the-air...including all broadcast channels
2. Cable...including all premium and non-premium programming
3. Internet...including all streaming services. This is also known as OTT or CTV

Here's how many Philadelphia adult viewers fall into each bucket. Remember, viewers are not limited to a single bucket.

Delaware Valley business owners are expected to spend $524,032,000 on streaming video advertising in 2021, according to Borrell Associates, a company that tracks online marketing expenditures across the country. This spending will be 26.0% higher than in 2020.

Streaming video advertising expenditures are accelerating as Philadelphia area consumers continue to abandon shows on local TV stations and cable systems in favor of programming streamed via an internet connection. These online channels include Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, Prime Video, Roku Channel, SlingTV, PlutoTV, and dozens more.

This type of streamed video content is known collectively as OTT (Over-The-Top-Television) or CTV (Connected-Television). These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably but do have a subtle difference.

OTT generally means the video is watched on a small device like a computer, tablet, or smartphone.  CTV, on the other hand, typically means the content is viewed on a smart-TV or a regular television using a streaming device like a Roku or Amazon stick.

In Philadelphia, according to Nielsen, OTT/CTV has exceeded the weekly reach of local newspapers and streaming audio services such as Pandora and Spotify. The medium is rapidly approaching the reach of local cable and broadcast TV stations.

Broadcast television came to the Delaware Valley in 1941 when WPTZ-TV (now KYW-TV) signed on for the first time. In those days, only about 0.5% of local households actually owned a set, a number that would grow 100-fold by the mid-1950s.

At first, Philadelphia consumers needed rabbit-ears or outdoor antennas to receive signals from a small handful of local stations, including  WCAU and WFIL (now WPVI). The quality of reception varied day-to-day.

By the early 1960s, however, local cable systems began to bring higher-quality, reliable reception to households throughout the Philadelphia area. The number of programming options, though, remained limited to affiliates of ABC, NBC, and CBS.

In 1972, viewing options began to expand as local cable began offering Philadelphia area consumers the opportunity to purchase premium services, including HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax.  Five years later came an explosion of non-premium cable channels such as TBS and CNN.

In the early 1990s, Philadelphia viewers could not only receive their television programming over-the-air or by cable, but options expanded to include satellite delivery by DishTV and DirectTV.

The next TV innovation came in 2007 as Philadelphia consumers started turning to the internet to watch streaming channels like Netflix and Hulu.  These new services allowed viewers to watch TV on their phones, computers, and tablets as well as their living room LCD and Plasma screens.

Today, all of this video technology offers viewers the ultimate flexibility to choose how, when, and where to watch TV.  So, what are they watching?