Comcast study: TV viewing time hit two-year high in Q1

Comcast Spotlight, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, released its first TV Viewership Report and some data about viewership time across Comcast’s TV footprint.

The report found that across 17 million Comcast households in 65 markets, average TV viewing times totaled six hours and 25 minutes per day. Broken down, it’s five hours 32 minutes of live TV viewing and 53 minutes of on-demand and DVR viewing. The totals mark a 6% increase over the six hours and four minutes average time that study found in the same quarter of 2018.

Comcast Spotlight said the first quarter average is a two-year high for TV viewing time. And the company said its findings mostly translated to all of its markets, with 88% of markets reporting increased total viewing, 78% reporting increased linear viewing and 91% of markets reporting increased time-shifted viewing.

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VOD is driving the bulk of the increase in time-shifted viewing in Comcast markets. The study said that daily time spent with VOD increased 36% in the first quarter, compared with just a 3% increase in time spent with DVR.

In terms of what people are watching, cable network content accounts for the majority. The study found that cable networks account for nearly two-thirds (65%) of time spent, broadcast takes up 30% and premium channels account for 5%. Those levels have stayed approximately the same over the past few years.

Comcast Spotlight is assembling this report as means of showing advertisers how viewing patterns are shifting.

“People today have countless options when it comes to content, distribution and access, and that’s driven important viewing changes that marketers need to understand. We show advertisers how to augment their TV strategies with data-driven, content-agnostic planning, which often leads them in a new direction, to more networks and expanded dayparts,” said Andrea Zapata, vice president of research and insights at Comcast Spotlight, in a statement.