For years, TV executives and industry analysts had scoffed at predictions of doom. But now, with declining ratings and ad revenue, they are in greater agreement that the Web is slowly but surely eating traditional TV, states a Washington Post story (that also appeared elsewhere), which adds that in new research, longtime media analyst Michael Nathanson of Moffett Nathanson Research wrote to investment clients that the growth of online ads are definitely coming at the expense of traditional TV and other media. He forecasts that ad spending on TV will decrease by about 3 percent each year through 2020.

The piece also stated, in part:

After several conversations with ad executives, Nathanson said he predicts that by 2017, online advertising, led by Google and Facebook, will surpass spending on TV ads. There is an increasing belief among advertisers that selling their messages on TV is a blunt instrument compared with the precision of targeted online ads.