I think this is true but most likely (especially with TV) due to the rise in the use of tablets connected a local wi-fi connection, and or/ "second/third device" culture. This has implications for the funding models of many stations.
Here in the UK, It is now affordable to get one or two cheap Android mobile phones, many of which can take dual SIMS and can be used as a 3G wireless access point (to provide mobile broadband to a larger tablet or a laptop when there is no local wifi available). Even free SIMS give fairly generous data plans in the UK; plenty enough for many hours of radio at good audio quality (192k MP3 or 96k AAC-LC) and maybe an hour or two of television).
This also means the device you are listening to radio on (especially if installed with the Deadbeef player) can be dedicated to this purpose, and connected to decent loudspeakers or headphones; and something else used for phone calls, tweets and the like (that way these won't interrupt your listening/viewing as much!)
Unfortunately I see too many folk falliing down the rabbit hole of an "individual app for each station".
Many folk do not own devices with enough memory to do this; added to which they are unlikely to look at the ads these apps often foist on the users, let alone click on them. I recently read an article in British media aimed at online marketers which pointed out that the only things selling on mobile screen ads are for services where completing the sale requires a telephone call to a real human being; which is what all the marketing companies have been trying to avoid for the past 20 years :rofl:. And of course if that was on the same app as your radio, the advertisers phone call would distract your listeners.
The Dutch call this practice "giving the cat his violin" (i.e a pointless idea, the English "cat and the fiddle" is a mistranslation of "le chat fidèle" ( a faithful European cat, which is actually a cross between the European wildcat and the Asian wildcat (the breeds which produce the Siamese). those who have ever had one as a pet will know they are faithful to family groups, but can make plenty enough noise from meowing without needing a violin!)
There is nothing wrong or unusual about putting short ad breaks between the radio or TV content, which is where everyone expects to see or hear them, but not as long as the conventional linear stations; as its the increasing length of those which discourages their listeners/viewers.
