• by Mike Bloxham , Op-Ed Contributor, October 4, 2012

This USA TouchPoints analysis looks at sports programming and the social aspect of viewing through an old-school filter, where social viewing is defined as in the company of others -- not Twitter, Facebook or social media.

Sport has long been social currency. 

If you’re unable to talk about last night’s big game with your friends, you are effectively excluded from the conversation.  While the proliferation of media platforms, the evolution of platform functionality and the emergence of social media have multiplied the ways we can consume and interact around events, sport has an almost visceral power to draw people together to share the emotions of the moment.

For this analysis, we wanted to gain a perspective on the relative incidence of viewing alone vs. with friends and vs. with family.

*Perhaps one of the most interesting findings is the extent to which reach across average weekdays and weekends is broadly similar, showing between 6% and 9% difference across any of the groups -- and the position of the groups relative to each other remains unchanged.

*This may be because shows like "Monday Night Football" are balanced by games broadcast on Sunday.  It may also be partly accounted for by out-of-home viewing, as people congregate in the homes of friends and family or go as a group to sports bars, etc.

*The high reach of viewing with family will be partly accounted for by the simple and obvious fact of in-home viewing, but also by the occasions when family gather together at each other’s homes as adults. (The definition of family in this analysis extends beyond the immediate family within the household to include, parents and siblings living elsewhere.)

*Although some time viewing with friends takes place in the home of one of the group, it is likely that more viewing with friends takes place in sports bars and similar social locations.

Further analysis to break down these findings by location, time of day and even to understand how major moments in the sporting week, such as "Monday Night Football," influence these patterns will be addressed in the coming weeks as part of "The Whole Story" series.