Commercial television networks rarely acknowledge this reality. However this indirect financial relationship between the individual consumer and the broadcaster is the Achilles heel of television. It places an upper limit on the revenue base. In the case of the public broadcasters, tax-payer funding will always be limited by the huge number of competing demands on the public purse. For commercial television, the unspoken reality is that there is a ceiling on the value of advertising to an advertiser.
Size matters The real product that commercial TV networks actually sell is the audience.
This is the reason that commercial television is often described as a lowest-common denominator medium. Programs for niche audiences simply don t help the bottom line. The public broadcasters also face a pressure to deliver sizeable audiences. This small decline has already impacted on the bottom lines of commercial TV networks because smaller audiences directly translate into lower revenue from advertisers. For independent program-makers this has translated into a much tougher environment in which to make a living.