Tucked inside technology behemoth Alphabet’s quarterly earnings was a line item that its YouTube video platform suffered a 2% decline in advertising sales — the first decline for the unit since the Google owner began reporting the platform’s revenues in 2019. That’s a harbinger for cable and broadcast networks reporting quarterly results in the next few weeks, as well as streamers hoping to cash in on ad dollars as well as subscription fees.
Think of it this way: People with short attention spans are worth slightly less in advertising dollars than they were a year ago. These are viewers conditioned to watching content that seldom goes beyond a minute.