In 2019, global individual television viewing time (IVT) was 2 hours and 48 minutes. This translates to a relative long-term stability, and France’s Médiamétrie notes that it is a figure that has jumped in the first months of 2020 — due to the global health context.
Online and “catch up viewing” are playing an increased role.
Frédéric Vaulpré, VP of Médiamétrie’s Glance research arm, notes, “we have been witnessing an increasing trend toward a convergence of television viewing worldwide across the 94 countries analysed in our report. The disparities between the different continents have been diminishing, particularly between North and South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, which have been stabilizing at an approximate viewing time of 3 hours and 40 minutes.”
Asia and Oceania, which are historically lower consumers of the small screen, have shown individual viewing times of 2 hours 20 minutes and 2 hours 11 minutes per day, respectively.
“Overall, we have been noticing a certain long-term stability, with an IVT level comparable to that of the early 2000s,” Vaulpré says. “The unusual global health context at the beginning of 2020 and the generalized lockdown of populations is generating an atypical increase in television viewing times worldwide, with peaks up to 30% and 40% of IVT reached in certain countries. This confirms the essential role of television both as an information source and as a means to maintain a link, a connection with the outside world.”
Internet screens have become essential in recent years. They enable channels to attract new viewers and facilitate access to the content on offer. Computers, tablets and smartphones are ubiquitous in younger generations and boost TV ratings.
It is particularly true for certain types of programs, such as reality TV, which young audiences watch avidly. Love Island, broadcast on itv2 in the United Kingdom, is watched by close to 990,000 online users. On the other hand, in Germany, the most watched genre online is local drama series, such as Die Verlorene Tochter, first broadcast in January 2020, where 18% of the audience watches on digital screens.
At the same time, catch-up TV continues to be an increasingly common practice. In the 39 countries where catch-up TV is measured, an average of 16 minutes per day are dedicated to this activity. Daily catch-up TV viewing is 28 minutes in the U.S., and 29 minutes in the United Kingdom.
What trends are taking shape for 2020, in a world dealing with the coronavirus pandemic?
The unusual global health context, with nearly 3 billion people locked down, is changing media behavior — particularly in the audio-visual sector.
Avril Blondelot, Director of Content Insight at Glance, comments, “At the beginning of the year, a program concept — cloud entertainment — became a household word, especially in China. Based on entertainment, it allows several people to interact from home via their webcam and the internet connection with a host or celebrity artist.”
