Final Project

 Streaming Services Disrupting Traditional Television News

Television News Is Disassembled: A New Media Generation Creates a Rift.

 As I realize that the image in my head of news while eating breakfast is no longer an everyday occurrence for my peers, I also find that they aren't using traditional networks anymore either. They're on TikTok scrolling through five-minute recap news stories or watching Patriot Act on Netflix. An instantaneous generational divide occurs, and it's more than just a difference in style and preference. Streaming services are dismantling traditional news—it's not just disrupting how people consume it—by reducing potential advertising and sponsorship revenue, creating a lack of cultural cohesion, and ensuring some people have less access to information than others. With 60% of adults claiming streaming as their primary media source (Pew Research, 2023), we need to consider how we used to get news—and what happens if we don't want to get news that way anymore.
The Linear News Culture is Dying.

The scheduled lineup is no longer. Where people once went out to see the news at eleven at night, they now receive it in ten-minute recaps from such YouTube personalities as Philip DeFranco, who, through lunchtime, can meme his compilation and meme-based message to create a news cycle. People are no longer tuning in to watch live news—per Nielsen, viewership of live news is down 20% over five years. Two reasons contribute to this: 

Advertising Revenue is Gone.

The ability to stream ad-free (or at least, allow ad-skip) has taken away news stations' significant access to revenue streams. For example, CNN+ was a failed venture that opened and closed within days, but as a subscription-based channel, it had nothing to do with revenue generated by audiences; it instead charged to get in, thinking people would want to pay for something that they could get elsewhere for free—even on Twitter.
The Loss of Collective Cultural Events

Where people used to gather to discuss the latest news story, they're now fed fragmented clickbait sent to them based on their algorithmic past. Where once my family group chat would mention the newest episode of a currently airing show on a weekly basis, now we've found ourselves discussing the latest twist on The Morning Show more—and that's just as bad because it means we want to be engaged in storyline developments over true, real-world, global rapture. This shows how increasingly established media is focused on engagement over awareness and that new programming is steadily on the decline.

The Streaming Hierarchy of Power

The notion of entertainment streaming has very quickly entrenched people at a hierarchical level along socioeconomic and generational lines:

The Gainers: Generational Viewers

Younger audiences are attracted to avenues that offer news under the guise of entertainment. Segments from Last Week Tonight go viral every day. Long-form investigative podcasts like Decoder function as news programs, and Twitch streams even become bona fide news shows. For the young, tech-savvy, early adopters, people like DeFranco on YouTube earn a living off his version of 'news' relying more upon expediency, personality, and shareability over definitive newscast bounds.

Losers: Old Gatekeepers and Underrepresented Communities

Local News Blacked Out: Over 200 counties have no access to local news (UNC Research) as advertising dollars dry up.

Rural Communities: 25% of rural America does not have reliable broadband access (FCC) to even let them tap into the world of streaming.

News Now by Algorithm

Streaming services don't just provide news, but they provide news about news. Netflix's algorithm encourages viewers to binge-watch sensationalized true crime documentaries while FX on Hulu suggests politically charged think pieces. The Verge explains this is what's creating “prestige TV news”—a temporary fix. When CNN+ closed down, it did so because news shouldn't be like Stranger Things, left to languish in dependency on cliffhangers—it’s news.
Adapt or Fade Away? The Future of TV News

TV news legacy media will exist in a hybrid model moving forward. Nearly all news programming is available through live and on-demand at the click of a button. For instance, NBC's Peacock live-streams Meet the Press and on-demand the same day with one subscription fee. CNN tries to attract a younger audience through TikTok—often met with disdain (ex. "Slay the headlines, queen!"); however, this seems more like a makeshift solution to a larger issue. Will TV news become like radio news, a thing of the past in niche world obscurity, or can it save itself among streaming and on-demand options?

Final Thoughts: A Future of Fragmentation

The irony is that the ability to stream news leads to fragmentation. Where some watch Fox News; many will go on TikTok to get quick news stories. We've all created our unique realities. But this is worth pondering—is this a good or bad thing? What do we lose when news is no longer experienced communally? It's one thing for me to survey with Google Forms and another to realize that while I know what my classmates consume and have access to, my family is entirely cut off and fragmented from those realities.

Pew Research Center. Streaming Video's Rise and Cable TV's Decline. 2023.
Nielsen. The Gauge: Streaming vs. Broadcast. 2023.

The Verge. Why CNN+ Failed—and What It Means for Streaming News. 2022.
Streaming vs. TV News infographic (CC-BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Pew Research Center. "Nearly as Many Americans Prefer to Get Their Local News Online as Prefer the TV Set." Pew Research Center, 26 Mar. 2019, [URL].