Commentary
Study: Want To Enhance TV Viewing Time? Consider Cannabis
- by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 14, 2018
Finally, an answer to getting adults to watch more TV -- as well as foster discussion with their kids: Get high.
Consuming cannabis enhances family TV viewing, according to a study by Miner and Co. Studio, a media and brand consultancy. Some 76% of those polled say they spend more time watching TV with their kids when they have consumed cannabis.
Research comes from an online February 2018 survey of 800 cannabis consumers who live in states where cannabis is legal for recreational and/or medical purposes.
Parents also report they are more engaged with family and TV content when consuming cannabis. The key word here: engaged. You got to figure TV marketers will like this.
At the same time, one can imagine TV viewers will also be slow to reach for the remote. Thus, there will be some fully consumed, video-completed TV commercials. Ditto programming content for TV networks.
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For regular “live” TV viewing, one can also imagine far less old-fashioned channel surfing. That's a big upside for TV networks, marketers and viewers.
Perhaps the good news is for family-friendly oriented programming -- where co-viewing is strong. I am guessing Hallmark Channel, as well as easily digestible singing, dancing and talent reality shows will also perform well.
What about overdoing things? The study also found while parents are more engaged in discussing TV with their kids, 80% are careful about consuming too much. In that case, we will also need to test for brand and programming recall.
Now what about alcohol, you might ask?
Decades ago, what did parents think of drinking while watching TV? Was getting just a bit tipsy also good for “engagement”? Did it enhance conversation with the kids?
We know that overdoing spirits can lead to big problems. But bigger than cannabis?
Next we need to move on to sugary and fatty foods. Hoping that research shows lots of chocolate keeps everyone tuned into sweeter TV content. Drama TV can be a bummer. More happy, mildly introspective content must be around the corner.
Wayne Friedman is West Coast Editor of MediaPost. You can reach Wayne at wayne@mediapost.com.
It will be interesting to see how many TV networks and cable channels put this to use---pitching higher percentages of "stoned"---er, make that "engaged" viewers than their rivals. Perhaps they will do commecial recall studies to prove their point----or maybe not as "stoned" viewers may not remember anything wotrh noting.
Cheetos and Doritos are in favor of this approach as well.
If only that Netflix show with Kathy Bates had been better!
Who remembers ?
I was under the impression that this was a joint report.