There is a growing question among TV executives whether they should put their shows on their cable networks or their streaming services.
In the early days of streaming services like Hulu and Paramount+ these services just re-aired shows the day after they aired on traditional TV channels, but now as Variety reports, cable network executives are increasingly releasing their content on their streaming services first and sometimes not at all on their TV networks.
Two examples include Disney’s FX, which is now heavily moving its content to Hulu. FX on Hulu is a major brand and hit shows like “The Bear” air there first. MTV has also moved many of its MTV-branded programs to Paramount+ to help grow that network.
According to Variety, MTV viewership was down 11% to 256,000 viewers in primetime—this viewership number has steadily dropped as younger viewers move to streaming. FX saw a 16% drop in viewership to 389,000 primetime viewers. That puts these networks well behind others like TV Land, Hallmark Channel, HGTV and even what many would have thought are smaller channels like Me TV.
Executives are struggling to find ways to make their streaming services profitable. One way they hope will get people to pay for Paramount+ and Hulu is by exclusively releasing content there.
Many popular shows now only air on streaming services, including the new Star Trek and Star Wars programs. This has forced fans to move to streaming, helping speed up the decline of cable TV as executives try to grow streaming.
But how long can they keep both a cable network and a streaming service going? At this point, only time will tell.
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