Live TV Still Dominant

Author: Doug McPhersonSource: Response Magazine

NEW YORK – Live TV remains on top among the ways to watch video, says Nielsen’s fourth-quarter 2015 Local Watch Report, which examines viewing habits in local TV and the impact subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), smartphone usage, and smart TVs have on markets.

Adults 25-54 watch more than three hours of live TV per day in 24 of the top 25 designated market areas (DMAs), with another 30-plus minutes of viewing time-shifted TV, and more than seven minutes consuming on multimedia devices.

Based on specific DMAs, the report also notes:

• Cleveland watches the most television of any DMA, with nearly six hours of total viewing, including more than 4.5 hours of live TV, per day.
• Dallas leads the top 25 DMAs in smartphone usage, at 89 percent; Miami’s smartphone penetration among African-Americans is the highest at 97 percent; Sacramento leads with Hispanics at 89 percent.
• Washington, D.C., has the highest smart-TV penetration (28 percent), smartphone mobile video views (39 percent), tablet penetration (68 percent), and SVOD penetration (59 percent).

The report also predicts that the 2016 election will net $4 billion in TV ad spending. Industry insiders say that’s no surprise, considering more than three-quarters of elusive young voters watch broadcast TV on a weekly basis and nearly half watch the local news.

Also, registered voters 18-34 consume local content. One-quarter of those young voters are more likely to have gone on a broadcast media website in the past month, while nearly one-third consider social networking to be an important tool to discover news. In addition, young voters are on the go – they are 26-percent more likely to download a media app.