By the end of 2017, 22.2 million U.S. million adults are projected to have cut the cord on cable satellite services. That number is up by about 33% — or about five million — just in this year alone. “Cord nevers,” those consumers who have never had a subscription to pay TV, have risen by an estimated 5.8% this year to about 34.4 million. And overall video consumption is also on the noticeable rise, according to E-Marketer.

Those stats opened the NY Media Festival’s Future of Television portion on Wednesday.

“Digital first services like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Apple, Facebook and YouTube continue to make major strides with viewers,” said Ned Sherman, counsel/director, Manatt Digital; Chairman, Digital Media Wire in his opening remarks. “And these options are becoming more of a mainstream component of entertainment for all ages. There is an ongoing shift in the ecosystem of consumption.”

Segueing into the first session, “View From the Top: The Future of Television,” the conversation focused on what this growing audience fragmentation means for the future of consumption.

“When I worked in cable, we never asked what it was our audience wanted. It was always what does out studio need to do,” said Rebecca Glashow, head of Worldwide Distribution, AwesomenessTV and formerly senior vice president, digital distribution and strategy at Discovery.

“Awesomeness has spent the past five plus years getting to know the audience, focusing on additional platforms that the traditional broadcast networks at the time were abandoning. Our audience watches a ton of TV and a ton of video, they watch short form and long form, and they consume probably more than the rest of us. They just might not fit into the traditional ecosystem, which the broadcast networks do not always understand.”

“In order for the TV networks and cable channels to remain relevant they will need to innovate and go with the times. Otherwise, I think a lot of them will decline and ultimately vanish,” said Floris Bauer, president and co-founder, Gunpowder & Sky. “I think the days of the viewer relying on a specific schedule are over. It is now how do you find your audience across the different platforms like Facebook, Snapchat and iTunes instead of positioning the programming on the different channels.”

This past Sunday, Star Trek: Discovery — the latest regularly scheduled series installment in the growing franchise — previewed on CBS and then headed to the network’s digital streamer, CBS All Access. That also signals how much things are changing.

Growing awareness digitally among the broadcast networks is a priority, as is more consideration for the audience that consumes their content outside of traditional TV. But what is particularly timely about this conference, and a boon for network television in this sea of change, are the early positive rating results in this first week of the new television season.

By the traditional Live + Same Day Nielsen ratings, there are no signs of overall slippage year-to-year, with NBC’s This Is Us, in particular, opening with a series high, Young Sheldon on CBS and The Good Doctor on ABC positively sampled, and aging series such as NCIS, The Voice and Dancing with the Stars all still must-see destinations.

“If you talk about the winners and the losers, I think the channels or the brands that mean something for the consumer—whether it is for a small niche audience or a small demographic or a large big brand – will be the ones able to make the transition to the new world,” said Floris Bauer. “Gaming, animation, sci-fi…I think these could be the standouts.”

And then, of course, there are the traditional broadcast networks who still offer the potential for the largest arena of viewers in this now fragmented environment. At least in this first week of the new TV season they have succeeded in that, with a large portion of the ecosystem still watching TV the old-fashioned way.

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