The power of traditional TV: ‘NCIS’ and its older audience deliver gold for CBS

Even years after the rise of Netflix and YouTube, traditional television is thriving. Americans are watching more broadcast and cable television than ever -- five hours a day -- and they are simply adding more time with videos by watching online.

Among all its competitors, CBS has exploited that traditional audience best, making it the most watched of the big networks for 11 of the past 12 seasons. “Although new digital entrants destroyed the revenue models and market capitalizations of newspapers, music and yellow pages, TV content producers have largely benefited from new digital entrants,” said Laura Martin, a media analyst at the investment firm Needham Co. That will likely change, analysts say, because younger viewers are spending more time on mobile devices than in front of the living room television set. CBS and other broadcast networks are in danger as consumers rethink expensive subscriptions for cable, where networks make a huge portion of their revenues from licensing fees and advertising.