https://news.fastcompany.com/basically-no-one-wants-to-watch-the-disney-channel-anymore-4042433

Kids these days may still want to spend the bulk of their summer vacations watching screens, but unlike their parents' generation, they aren't waking up at 6 a.m. on a summer Friday to watch the Disney Channel. According to the Wall Street Journal (https://www.wsj.com/articles/disneys-channels-kids-are-tuning-out-1499166003), ratings at Disney are dropping across the brand's channels, including Disney Channel and the teen-targeted channel Freeform. For the first six months of this year, both networks saw viewership declines in the double digits among their targeted demographics.

Thanks to Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube, kids now have a lot of choices and no longer have to sit through hours of That's So Raven just because it's the only kid show on. Disney hasn't been able to keep up and is frequently bested in the ratings race by the likes of Nickelodeon (because Paw Patrol is basically visual crack for kids). Disney's other problem is that it hasn't had a breakout hit since its Hannah Montana–Wizards of Waverly Place—Suite Life of Zack and Cody heyday. Apparently, no one has been able to crack the code of making a show as ingenious as Hannah Montana. (She was an average high school student and a world-famous pop star, and no one figured it out!) Disney is now hoping that a That's So Raven spin-off and a stand-alone app similar to HBO Go will help.

Disney is not alone, though: Prime-time viewing has dropped by 34% in the past five years for people ages 2 through 34.

Disney, like so many other channels show only a handful of series, which they play over and over again. :bored: In the meantime countless other shows languish in their vaults. Cord-Cutting is for real, people are revolting, :angryfire and they are doing so by "voting with their wallets" and cancelling their subscription to Pay-TV in the second quarter. We are now in the third quarter. If my calculations are correct, when the announcement is made about how many people are subscribing to a Pay-TV in the second quarter, the results won't be pretty. :eek:

It's all because there is just nothing good on Disney Channel anymore. If the old shows came back, then maybe the viewership would go up a huge notch.

They brought back Zack and Cody earlier this year, and ditched it after a few months. Same thing happened with Hannah Montana, at the end of 2016.

If they made a concerted effort with these older programs, they'd have something to show for it.

I sure wish they would bring back the New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. That show was a big part of my childhood. Most of the stuff they have on there now I have no interest in.

it's because they don't show vintage reruns anymore like the 1950s version of "THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB", "WALT DISNEY PRESENTS" (and it's various other titles) etc. If they did that their viewership would go up again.

It's because they have crappy teen shows where they act so ridiculous. Look at how their ratings went up last year when they had the original movies marathon. They need to show their older shows and movies and then maybe their ratings would rise again. Man, how I miss the Disney afternoon!

Maybe they could replace one of their other stupid channels, like Disney Jr or Disney XD, with Disney Classic.

Have they ever given a reason they don't show the older stuff?

I remember seeing Kilroy in the 60s and it hasn't been shown since.

The main reason I think The Disney Channel started to go downhill is that if you look at the old image of Disney Channel and the new image of Disney Channel you'll notice that they were originally a family oriented channel when they first debuted in 1983 but ever since they dropped the classic Disney Channel shows and switched to the cartoon/kids show image in the 2000's Disney Channel knew that this would be the start of a new audience for the network. Another thing Disney Channel did with it's sitcoms and kids shows was that every time they debuted a sitcom or a movie was that they would the stars of the shows famous. And starting with That's So Raven Disney Channel made Raven Symone a huge star by having her putting out cds Mattel dolls and even a clothing line with the Texas based department store Foley's and once Disney Channel saw that success with That's So Raven it was repeated with Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus and from the time Hannah Montana debuted Miley Cyrus became the top star of Disney by having Hannah Montana clothing dolls and even a kids meal deal with Subway and with celebrities being part of Disney the channel was on a roll. And now with the stars of Disney's Descendants being the new teen stars of Disney Channel really has worked it's magic into a new image and with shows such as the new show Andi Mack and cartoons such as Elena Of Avalor and Tangled The Series and the new revival of Ducktales this new image will make Disney Channel gain a new audience of fans but someday they should bring back the classic Disney shows and show Disney movies more often on the channel
Bestie

Even if Disney cleaned up their act I'd most likely never return to cable. It's way too expensive for me, not to mention since January of 2007 I've accumulated so many TV shows, movies and other programming that I'm set for life.

They show nothing but rubbish now..... Its really no surprise.........

The only scripted show I've ever watched on this channel was episodes of Zorro over a decade ago. It's always been mostly mediocre live action dramas and comedies for kids. Even when it was a premium channel. Though they used to have some programs of interest for fans of Disney movies, that pretty much went away when it became a basic cable channel.

Condsidered this, Disney channel network movies has greatest variety while Nick and Cartoon doesn't show movies good variety.

i hand't watched disney channel in ages !! before they changed i remember i always wanted the disney channel!! my aunt gala she lived in florida she got the disney channel!! this was right when cable was getting popular!! would send my grand mam vsh taps of disney's cartoons my grand mmaa would gave them to me & my brother!! she taped when she had the disney channel1! we also watched Disney channel when they used to do free previews of it for like month!! I also watched few episodes of girls meets world!! sorry i can't stand girl meets world!! I don't like cory's daughter she kind of acts like goof ball!! i still enjoy boy meets world! Now i do watch disney xd they have like unlimited spider man & some times i like guardians of the galaxy the Agvners & star wars rebels!!