Local Beats National In Time-Shifted Viewing

TVB today released an analysis of time-shifted viewing for the first six weeks of the 2012-13 primetime broadcast season.  The analysis revealed that time-shifted viewing in the nation’s top local markets is outpacing the national average by 26%.

Across the 25 Local People Meter (LPM) markets, an average of 18 programs per market over-indexed the national average of live-plus-same day time-shifted viewing.  However, some markets consistently over-delivered including Chicago (44 programs), Dallas (44 programs), San Francisco (29 programs), Los Angeles (38 programs) and Houston (37 programs).

While industry observers have largely focused on the amount of national time-shifted viewing that occurs in the three days after programs first air, according to data provided by Nielsen Media Research, a substantial 43% of all time-shifted viewing is occurring on the same day the programming originally aired, TVB says. TVB examined the live-plus-same day audience trends over the first six weeks of the season and said there were several significant insights of relevance to local broadcast TV.

TVB’s SVP-chief research officer, Stacey Lynn Schulman, explained: “On a national basis, same day, time-shifted viewing rose to as high as 52% (NBC’s Parenthood, week 5) for some shows. However, local markets saw even greater lifts, climbing to as high as 91% (Fox’s Fringe, week 6 Cleveland DMA).  Six weeks into the season it is clear that time-shifted viewing has transcended ‘sampling’ and is becoming an essential component of local broadcast television viewing behavior.”

Steve Lanzano, TVB president-CEO added: “High levels of time-shifted viewing in LPM markets reveal a large number of impressions not accounted for when media planning and buying is based on live only data.  Across all 25 LPM markets for the first six weeks of the season, 140 million adult 25-54 impressions came from same day, time-shifted viewing.  These valuable impressions are growing with each new broadcast season and provide advertisers with the significant and unique local audiences that positively impact their marketing results.”

In response to the analysis, Maribeth Papuga, EVP-director local investment and activation at MediaVest, said: “As DVR penetration and new technologies spread to local markets at a varied pace and audiences take advantage, it is becoming more apparent that the live only sample is shrinking. While we continue to note that these reported audiences still only reflect averages related to program viewing, the TVB study demonstrates the increased usage of new technologies and time shifted viewing across America’s local markets.”

TVB’s analysis is available here.