Connected TV Viewing Remains High As States Re-Open, Legacy TV Back To Pre-COVID Levels
- by Wayne Friedman , June 4, 2020
Now with almost all states re-opening, at least partially, and relaxation of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, Nielsen says traditional TV viewing has drifted back to historical levels while connected TV usage remains high.
Connected TV for the most recent week of May 4 shows 3.5 billion hours of viewing in the U.S. For the last eight weeks, CTV viewing has averaged 3.8 billion hours.
This is in comparison to the period of March 2-March 9 before the onset of COVID-19, which averaged 2.8 billion hours.
Nielsen says that with 49 of the U.S. states now re-opening partially or fully, high CTV usage is a “new normal.”
In response to the rise of COVID-19, Nielsen says there has been an increase in co-viewing overall, with subscription video-on-demand services posting the best results.
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Fifty-two percent of people two years and older viewed some content with another person on SVOD services for the most recent week -- up from 47% two weeks earlier.
By contrast, traditional TV co-viewing rose by a smaller margin -- just 2% for the most recent week (May 4) versus the week of March 2. Broadcast rose 37% (from 35%), while cable and syndication each rose 35% (from 33%).
I must say that these Nielsen reports are somewhat confusing, Wayne. For example what they are reporting is a slow but steady recent decline in CTV viewing with the week of May 4th-10Th---the last one cited----being about 10% lower than the peak week of April 6th-12th. As for Co-viewing, this too is a bit strange. The numbers are reported as weekly reach percentages---not average minute levels which would be far more significant. Also, if only 37% of the total weekly reach of broadcast TV involved more than one person for at least a single sitting then the average minute figure for all of the hours of broadcast TV viewed must be incredibly low---like 10-15%. I wonder if what they are describing as the weekly co-viewing percentages are, in reality, average minute---or time spent---- percentages?