Total TV Consumption Flat For September, 18-49 Viewers Dip

Total day TV consumption growth was virtually flat in September -- up 0.2% -- but down 4.9% among 18-49 viewers, according to one media analyst.

Brian Wieser, senior research analyst for Pivotal Research Group, in analyzing Nielsen data for the month, says: “Our interpretation is that while TV in its totality is stable, results remain negative for ad-supported national TV as a medium.”

He accounts for these lower results coming from viewing of “unrated programming through internet-connected devices and of premium video on PCs, tablets and mobile phones.... [adding this] probably would bring year-over-year trends closer to flat.”

Internet-connected device viewing consumption, including from set-top boxes/platforms Roku, Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast, rose by 46% year-over-year among all TV homes.

advertisement

advertisement

It's up 38% among adult 18-49 viewers.

Internet-connected viewing now accounts for 11.4% of total TV and 16.8% among adults 18-49 on a total day basis, per Wieser. He adds that these “growth rates have accelerated significant in the past few months.”

Looking at traditional national TV, advertising commercial impressions among adults 18-49 dropped 11.4% in September 2018 on a total-day basis versus the same month a year ago. It also fell 9.8% in prime time.

At the same time, national TV commercial loads -- C3/C7 ratings, which “exclude unencoded or otherwise non-qualifying activity in digital environments” -- rose 2.3% to 11.2 minutes an hour from 11.0 minutes, for an average TV network during the month.

Next story loading loading..