Networks explain why Prime Time TV viewing is off

This is from today's USA Today. Old media is scrambling for why viewing is off, other excuses included the fact that daylight savings occurred earlier and therefore people were outside longer (?). It might be also that alt media on the web is replacing the commercial ladened shows are getting usurped by dvrs and downloads.

clipped from www.usatoday.com We can't really examine things in the same mind-set that we did a year ago," ABC research chief Larry Hyams says. Trouble is, advertisers so far are refusing to pay for all those procrastinating viewers, arguing that many skip commercials. So Nielsen is testing ways to measure audiences for commercials, not just programs. Still other observers worry the shortfall may mark a tipping point as networks lose share to the Internet, cable and other media. "When you put it all together, it snowballs," says Starcom Media's Sam Armando. Yet hope springs eternal as the finale-filled May sweeps begins: "In another month we can have turned the corner."

From Andy Kessler's Blog in the NYTimes

clipped from kessler.blogs.nytimes.com Don’t get me wrong. The Internet will soon deliver all our video clips — sitcoms, sports, the whole shebang. But whoever creates and controls this content is who will make the big returns from it. Google is tops at search. It’s not yet obvious it will be tops in video. The game of lifting video clips made by others is almost over. If Google wants to stay in the game, it will need to ramp up its spending on video big time.