Study: Most NYC Cable Viewers Watch TV Outside Of Prime Time

A new census-level study is out from two of the largest cable TV providers in the biggest U.S. TV market: Cablevision Systems Corp. and Time Warner Cable. The companies say it’s the first comprehensive TV audience report for the New York area.

Research comes from 3.5 million homes — about half of the New York designated market area. The companies say the data analysis is “aggregated, de-identified” and designed to help marketers with more granular TV viewing that cannot be obtained by traditional TV metrics.

The report finds that nearly three-quarters — 74% — of TV tuning occurs outside of prime time for New York City-area cable customers. The study also says, on average, TV homes tune into 25 networks per month, with 90% of the tuning coming from 100 networks.

“Since introducing our census-level audience data early last year, we have seen significant growth in demand for more granular audience measurement and analytics,” stated Ben Tatta, president of Cablevision Media Sales.

Joan Gillman, COO and executive vice president of Time Warner Cable Media, added: “As viewing habits continue to evolve, our clients need increasingly sophisticated data and analytics to inform their marketing decisions.”

3 comments about "Study: Most NYC Cable Viewers Watch TV Outside Of Prime Time".
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  1. Leonard Zachary from T___n__, November 12, 2014 at 3:20 p.m.

    It would be helpful if a link for the study was provided. The bigger question is how are TV ad inventory priced today if nearly three-quarters — 74% — of TV tuning occurs outside of prime time for New York City-area cable customers" AND ""90% of the tuning coming from 100 networks"? Over priced? Underpriced? Just Right?

  2. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, November 12, 2014 at 5:10 p.m.

    The finding that three fourths of TV set usage occurs in time periods outside of prime time is nothing new. We've been reporting exactly the same thing in our annual, "TV Dimensions", for some time now. The same thing goes for the number of "networks"---or channels--- sampled per month. We make similar estimates, on a viewer not a household basis, for the country as a whole. Our average monthly figure for adults is about 29 channels seen per month, a tad higher than the Cablevision/Time Warner figure, but this may be a function of the definitions used. What would be really interesting would be a comparison of the show by show household ratings that this study finds relative to the ratings for the same shows that Nielsen reports in its New York audience survey. How close to the two sources come?

  3. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, November 13, 2014 at 11:15 a.m.

    To Leonard's question, the relative CPM diferentials between TV's various dayparts and between types of networks----essentially, cable vs. broadcast-----have been locked into place for decades and remain in force today. Typically, primetime, which accounts for about a quarter of all viewing, generates CPMs roughly 2-3 times the norm for other dayparts. At the same time, primetime has less commercial clutter, which is one reason why it rates premium CPMs. Also, primetime has, on average, the highest program costs and the greatest risk, in terms of failed shows which are speedily cancelled if their ratings dip too low. Net, net, primetime accounts for a disproportionate share of ad revenues----around 50-65%, depending on what network we are talking about----as the advertisers' reward for providing the medium's "best" shows, at considerable risk, with the least ad clutter. It's is generally accepted by all parties as an equitable deal as it encourages the continued development of "quality" programming, not just, the cheaply produced glut of talk shows, magazine shows ,game shows, talking head "newscasts", reality pap and similar fare that populates most other TV dayparts.

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