By DAVID BAUDER, AP Media Author
NEW YORK (AP) — Individuals have been caught at house for a yr resulting from COVID-19 restrictions, with film theaters closed, live performance venues closed, eating places closed, sports activities attendance restricted — but tv viewing is down?
That is senseless to networks and cable and satellite tv for pc suppliers, who’re complaining that the Nielsen firm is inaccurately counting how many individuals are literally watching.
Nielsen’s reply, in a nutshell: the reality hurts.
It is an argument with monetary implications, since networks later this spring start promoting promoting for the following yr. Fewer viewers equal fewer advert {dollars}.
By the commerce group Video Promoting Bureau, the networks are perplexed by Nielsen statistics that present the share of People who watched their televisions at the least a while in the course of the week declined from 92% in 2019 to 87% to date this yr.
Moreover being counter-intuitive within the pandemic period, the VAB says that discovering runs counter to different proof, together with viewing measurements from set-top cable bins, the elevated quantity of streaming choices which have develop into out there and a bounce in gross sales for tv units.
“We predict the market deserves much more readability,” mentioned Sean Cunningham, president and CEO of the VAB, on Tuesday.
The variety of households, notably massive households, taking part in Nielsen measurements has dropped over the previous yr in percentages much like the lower in viewership, Cunningham mentioned. Nielsen acknowledges that its pattern measurement is smaller — the corporate just isn’t sending personnel into properties due to COVID-19 — however mentioned statistics are being weighted to account for the change.
Final week, for instance, common prime-time viewership on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox was down 16% from the identical week in 2020. The lower would have been steeper if not for the NCAA males’s basketball championship recreation, which wasn’t held final yr.
After an preliminary spike in viewership when lockdowns took impact final spring, long-term traits taking individuals away from their units reasserted themselves, Nielsen mentioned.
Extra individuals are spending time on tablets and smartphones, which are not measured by Nielsen. The podcast market is hovering. Sports activities on tv was interrupted. Attributable to manufacturing shutdowns, tv networks had been airing much more reruns, Nielsen mentioned.
“The media trade, identical to all others, wasn’t ready for the grand shift in each day life that the pandemic pressured, seemingly in a single day,” Nielsen mentioned in a analysis paper responding to the VAB’s criticisms.
CBS was the most well-liked community final week, averaging 5.9 million viewers in prime time. NBC had 3.46 million, ABC had 3.45 million, Fox had 1.Eight million, Univision had 1.Three million, Telemundo had 1.1 million, Ion Tv had 1 million and the CW had 720,000.
Fox Information Channel led the cable networks, averaging 2.12 million viewers in prime time. MSNBC had 1.59 million, HGTV had 1.21 million, CNN had 1 million and TBS had 993,000.
ABC’s “World Information Tonight” gained the night information rankings race, averaging 8.2 million viewers final week. NBC’s “Nightly Information” had 6.6 million and the “CBS Night Information” had 4.9 million.
For the week of April 5-11, the 20 most-watched applications, their networks and viewerships:
1. NCAA Males’s Basketball Championship: Baylor vs. Gonzaga, CBS, 16.92 million.
2. “NCIS,” CBS, 10.26 million.
3. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.74 million.
4. “FBI,” CBS, 8.07 million.
5. “Younger Sheldon,” CBS, 6.95 million.
6. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 6.88 million.
7. “Chicago Hearth,” NBC, 6.65 million.
8. “FBI: Most Wished,” CBS, 6.44 million.
9. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 6.35 million.
10. “NCAA Basketball Pregame Present,” CBS, 6.21 million.
11. “American Idol,” ABC, 6.09 million.
12. “The Voice,” NBC, 6.02 million.
13. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 5.Eight million.
14. “Magnum, P.I.,” CBS, 5.61 million.
15. “United States of Al,” CBS, 5.38 million.
16. “Mother,” CBS, 4.93 million.
17. “America’s Funniest Dwelling Movies,” ABC, 4.92 million.
18. “Legislation & Order: SVU,” NBC, 4.9 million.
19. “Station 19,” ABC, 4.87 million.
20. “Legislation & Order: Organized Crime,” NBC, 4.84 million.
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