TV's 'Reach' Drifts Lower, Average Time Spent Per Network Rises

by Wayne Friedman , October 30, 2019

Although the “reach” of broadcast and cable networks has dipped in recent years, the amount of time that average viewers are spending with an individual network has climbed.

In the past five years, broadcast networks have dropped to an average 61.1% reach in the third quarter of 2019 from 78.1% …

advertising, broadcast networks, cable tv, media measurement, nielsen, research, television

2 comments about "TV's 'Reach' Drifts Lower, Average Time Spent Per Network Rises".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, October 30, 2019 at 12:10 p.m.
A rather poorly done report. Are we referring to the average broadcast TV network---counting the CW and Fox networks which offer only two hours of content per night in prime and none in the early AM, daytime, early evening and late evening hours? Are we referring only to primetime or total day? Are these reach stats weekly ---monthly or quarterly reach?Rregarding cable, what channels were included---the top 10, 50, or all of them. Same questions for time spent calculations. The numbers cited look like weekly primetime stats---are they? Actually, the average person now devotes about 2 hours per week to the 14-15 channels that are used per week. As before, any reasonably smart media planner---even at the lower levels knows that the "solution" to the "problem" that is hinted at by the headline is obvious---spread out your TV buys among more channels and dayparts to get the reach you desire. Media 101. folks.
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