• by Wayne Friedman , October 18, 2016

Total commercial TV impressions among 18-49 viewers continue to climb as a result of still-rising commercial advertising loads for most TV networks.

C3 impressions (the average commercial rating plus three days of time-shifted viewing) among 18-49 viewers grew 3.2% in the third quarter of this year over the same period a year ago, according to analysis from Pivotal Research Group.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal commanded the largest C3 share of impressions among 18-49 viewers in September for a TV network group -- 15.1%, the same as the previous year. 

Viacom was next at 14.9%, down from 16%; Time Warner remained the same at 11.6%; Walt Disney slipped to 11.3% from 11.4%; Fox was at 8.3%, down from 8.4%; CBS was at 6.3%; Discovery, 6.2%; Scripps Networks Interactive, 4.8%, and AMC Networks. 2.7%.

In September, total commercial advertising loads grew on average to 10.9 minutes/hour versus 10.7 minutes for September 2015 --  up from 10.5 minutes in September 2014.

Viacom continued to be the leader among all TV network groups for advertising loads: 14.9 minutes of advertising time per hour, up from 14.8 minutes in September 2015. Scripps Network Interactive was next at 13.6 minutes, down from 13.7 minutes.

AMC Networks and Discovery posted the largest gains in advertising time per hour -- to 12.4 minutes (up from 11.8 in September 2015) and 10.0 (up from 9.8) respectively.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Time Warner both remained the same -- at 11.1 minutes and 9.0 minutes, respectively.

Fox was at 10 minutes per hour (up from 9.8 minutes), followed by Disney at 8.3 minutes (from 8.2 minutes); and CBS at 7.3 minutes (from 7.2 minutes).