Global TV viewing robust says Eurodata TV Worldwide report

In 2018, average daily viewing time for television stood at 2 hours and 55 minutes, according to  Eurodata TV Worldwide’s One TV Year in the World report.

That figure (based on analysis of 94 countries) was one minute shorter than in 2017, suggesting remarkable stability for the medium. However Eurodata says the headline figure does conceal some disparities between the different regions of the world. For example, viewing times in North America were significantly down (-9 mins), but Asia saw growth of three minutes year on year (up 2 hours and 28 minutes, +3 mins).

Frédéric Vaulpré, Eurodata TV Worldwide Director said: “TV is in good health and is benefitting from new consumer practices. Over the last 25 years, daily viewing time has been stable in North America and even increased in South America and Europe.”

Adding detail, Eurodata said catch-up accounted for 8.3% of global TV viewing time – though the figure rises to 18% in Switzerland and 23% of the TV viewing time among young adults in Portugal. It also identified a trend towards pre-broadcasting – ie the launch of shows online before their official linear debut. In the UK, “pre-broadcast” accounted for 21% of the total audience for content offering this viewing option.

Among more than 10,000 new series launched in 2018 around the world, 43% were factual, 41% fiction and 16% entertainment genres. In terms of audience figures, new scripted series topped the annual charts in three quarters of the countries studied. Eurodata noted that 80% of them were local productions.

According to Eurodata TV, one trend emerging in 2019 is the factual TV portrayal of medical operations and health-related interventions. In the fiction genre, political drama series are on a roll while co-productions will continue to grow.