Carat: 62% Of Viewers Will Return To Fave Net Shows

Network executives have been holding their collective breaths: Will viewers return to network TV programs in the next couple of weeks as more original programs hit the air?

Media agency Carat says they can exhale. Viewers will come back--not 100%, but a majority. For a study conducted during the first week in March, Carat noted that 62% will return to their favorite show once it is back on air in late March/April, with 55% returning to their favorite TV show even if it doesn't return until the fall or winter.

Overall, TV viewers will return by the start of the fall season in September. The majority of viewers--75%--say they will channel-surf or watch other prime-time television shows if their favorite show does not return until fall/winter.

The alternative for disgruntled viewers--who have waited while the industry went through the writers' strike--is online TV programming.

Five percent say they do not plan to return to their favorite TV shows--and among those, only 11% says they plan to watch TV shows online. Some 10% of non-TV returnees plan to watch DVDs, go to the movie theater, play video games, or watch free VOD programming.

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The study also found that 48% expressed interest in watching the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. But only 19% said they were more interested in watching compared to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Forty percent said that they are interested in watching the upcoming 2008 presidential election. Here interest is greater--60%--than compared to the previous 2004 election.

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