Yes, our viewing habits are shifting, but it’s happening slowly. The vast majority of programming is still viewed live, finds a new study, and most time-shifting is done within three days.
New drama Designated Survivor leads the list with more 18-49s time-shifting the show than watching it live. ABC has four of the top seven. Big Bang and Empire are up there too.
Broadcast network programming continues to see more time-shifted viewing — in primetime and total day metrics — than cable network programming. Cable TV networks, by contrast, grabbed more live viewing of its programming than broadcast.
And more reason for networks to push for deals based on seven-day playback numbers. Five shows at least double their 18-49 premiere rating. ABC’s Designated Survivor sets a record.
There was a 12% drop in time-shifted program viewing on a monthly basis among viewers 18+ to 25 hours and 21 minutes for the first quarter of 2016 versus the same period a year ago.
Exclusives
A breakdown of younger TV-media consumer behavior shows some differences when it comes to streaming and time-shifted programming.
Before social media, if you missed a live episode of the latest hit show, you’d feel left out of the conversation at the water cooler. In today’s instantaneous world of social media, however, you’re more likely to feel left out on Twitter. And that fear of missing out seems to be pushing people to catch up: New research from Nielsen found that social media “reminds” people to watch an episode after the live airing.
Time-Shifted TV Viewing Rises Cross-Platform
Traditional TV consumption rose ever so slightly when looking at live and time-shifted viewing. On a monthly basis, Nielsen Cross-Platform Report for the fourth quarter of 2013 showed that traditional TV viewing was up over 170 minutes and 12 seconds versus 168 hours, 2 seconds. Live TV was at 155:32, down from 156:24, and time-shifted TV was up at 14:40 versus 12:38.
Binge-viewing continues to climb among those who are watching TV on their own time schedules through time-shifting devices and video-on-demand services. 62% of people who watch TV on their own schedules watch multiple episodes of TV shows in succession, so-called “binge-viewing.”
Behind The Gains In Time-Shifted Viewership
It’s way up on broadcast, and it’s not just from DVRs. Video on demand is also increasing, leading to gains in C3 ratings. Stacey Schulman, chief research officer at TVB, talks about the advantages and disadvantages of VOD for advertisers, why broadcast ratings are down, and whether C7 ad buys are in the offing.
Time-Shifted Viewing Extends Past 7 Days
In pushing to account for all TV viewing, some network executives want to look beyond seven days of time-shifted viewing — but they might not see big results. Nielsen, in a new Cross-Platform Report release, says 5% of viewing happens beyond seven days of time-shifting for thetop 10 shows.
Local Beats National In Time-Shifted Viewing
In the first week six weeks of the new season, the time-shifted portion of the broadcast TV audience in LPM markets shows surging local trends, according to TVB’s analysis of Nielsen data.
Time-Shifted Viewing Up, Live Viewing Dips
Live television viewing slipped again the first quarter of this year, according to Nielsen. The average daily live TV viewing per person is now at 4 hours and 38 minutes — down from 4:47 during the first quarter 2011. Time-shifted viewing climbed to 24 minutes from 21 minutes.
CBS, the strongest TV network in terms of overall viewers, said it had gained the most time-shifted viewers for the 2010-2011 season. CBS grew 10.1% or 1.18 million primetime viewers in time-shifted viewing after seven days, according to Nielsen. CBS led all networks last year with 11.67 million viewers for live-plus-same-day rating data.
Traditional TV DVR time-shifting continues to be an older-skewing activity. But overall, time-shifting usage rose 17.9% in the third quarter of 2010 and 13.4% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Time-shifted viewers amount to 105.9 million, a 16.7% gain.
Television time-shifted viewing is growing this season — for almost all shows. Horizon Media’s Brad Adgate says throughout the season so far there are 19 shows that witnessed 3 million or more viewers after seven days of time-shifted viewing. By comparison, in 2009, there were 11 shows and in 2008 there were only three.
