Through the first half of the 2014-15 season, CBS’s primetime lineup is delivering more viewers than 11 years ago as multi-platform viewing grows, generating bigger audiences. While it’s CBS’ point, it speaks to how all broadcast networks are, with varying degrees of success, able to re-assemble their audience via all these other platforms.
Two weeks into the new season, typical broadcast audience erosion has yet to show itself. Total average prime-time viewers numbers are virtually flat to that of a year ago — up 0.6% to 8.21 million, according to Nielsen live program plus same day time-shifting metrics. Key adults 18-49 viewers are down 2.5% to a four-network average of 2.3 million.
Across the television landscape, viewing for all sorts of primetime shows is down — chiefly among 18- to 49-year olds, the most important audience for the business.
Dramas Lead Primetime Viewing, Ads, DVRing
Television viewers in the U.S. have more choices than ever, both in terms of how and where they tune in and in what they watch. In the first of a three-part insight series, Nielsen looked at viewership and advertising across five traditional primetime genres and found that dramas account for the largest share of viewership, timeshifting and ad spend, while reality programs claimed the largest share of product placements.
