TV Trends: Internet-Connected Devices = 8.5% of P18-49 Viewing -- Pivotal Research
We have analyzed trends associated with the use of television alongside commercial share trends for national media owners in the United States through the end of the calendar month of July 2016 (covering the period running from July 1 to July 31 rather than the broadcast month, which ran from June 27 to July 1). Associated data including time-shifted viewing and commercial impression data for this period became available from Nielsen on Monday.
Notable observations described further below include the following:
• Total use of television as we define it across all sources of content inputs was up by +1.0% for adults 18-49 during July, supported significantly by content access via internet-connected devices (Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, etc.)
• Viewing via internet-connected devices rose by +65% year-over-year to account for 8.5% of total TV use among adults 18-49 on a total day basis
• During July there were 604 billion commercial impressions included in Nielsen's C3 ratings (which excludes much content consumed through internet-connected devices) across all people, up +0.9%, driven by rising commercial loads
• Viacom produced the largest share of commercial impressions, with a 17.3% share among national media owners during July vs. 17.6% in the year-ago period. Commercial ad loads were slightly lighter year-over-year. Commercial share gains were most significant at NBCU and Scripps, with stable ad loads at NBCU and slightly lower ad loads at Scripps. Discovery fared worst during the quarter, with the most significant declines in commercial share despite higher commercial loads. Time Warner and Fox both grew commercial shares, led by CNN and Fox News, respectively, despite lower ad loads.
Total use of TV is important to monitor as it provides investors with a relative sense of the health of the medium. While this data is incomplete in the sense that it excludes viewing of content on non-TV-based devices, going beyond network-level ratings and looking at aggregated sources of viewing helps to better analyze the relative importance of the medium to consumers. Commercial share data is important to monitor as networks with more available inventory to sell should generally capture a greater share of advertising budgets.
Additional commentary and data covering share data for different types of TV consumption and commercial viewing share for different network groups are included in the remainder of this note.
FULL REPORT INCLUDING RISKS AND DISCLOSURES CAN BE FOUND HERE: TV Update 8-16-16.pdf
The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com / MyersBizNet, Inc. management or associated bloggers.
Brian Wieser
Brian Wieser is Global President, Business Intelligence for GroupM, WPP’s media investment Group. He is leading GroupM’s thought leadership practice to ensure that WPP’s clients receive actionable marketplace intelligence on markets, audien…
