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October 15, 2017

Are You Paying Attention? It Depends On What’s On Your TV

As we first discussed in the June 1st issue of Media Matters, TVision Insights has come to the table with interesting research that extends beyond “viewing” TV shows and focuses on the issue of attentiveness. Last time we looked at their overall attentiveness findings for programs versus commercials by demographics. This time we look at attentiveness by program type and daypart. We have long held that attentiveness measurements should be of great interest to advertisers, as a program that fosters attentive viewing creates an environment where viewers may be more likely to carry over that focused viewing to the ads that run during the show.

For many years we reported on Simmons’ attentiveness findings in our annual report, TV Dimensions, and noted that primetime shows in general—and dramas in particular—garnered the highest levels of attentive viewing, while morning programs came in on the low end. This is a function both of the content of the program and the daypart when it airs. Obviously, as people rush around in the morning, a show like Today may be on in the background, and may occasionally draw a viewer’s attention when an important news story comes on, or a favorite celebrity appears for an interview. The case is quite different when the viewer settles down in front of the TV in the evening, ready to be entertained by a compelling or exciting story. That said, let’s look at TVision’s findings for the second quarter of 2017, and see how they compare to our previous reporting on the topic:

Attentiveness By Daypart

Here, a comparison is difficult to make, since in its report, TVision presents its daypart findings for broadcast TV as an index that compares the relative performance of each network by daypart. In other words, TVision reported that between 5-9am, CBS indexed the highest in attentive viewing (115.0), with all the other networks falling well behind. As TVision points out, this is significant because CBS does not have the highest rated morning show—ABC’s Good Morning, America held that honor. In fact, CBS had the highest levels of attentive viewing in most dayparts, but we would caution that this may be due in large part to its older demographics (older viewers pay more attention, in general). Overall, the data showed that primetime scores high levels of attentiveness, compared to other dayparts, which is in line with what we have found in the past. 

Attentiveness By Program Type

In the past, we found that dramas—whether they appeared on broadcast or cable—tended to be the highest performers in terms of attentiveness. Although dramas such as ABC’s Gray’s Anatomy and FX’s The Americans made the top 10 lists, reality TV programs seemed to be the real attention-grabbers, with NBC’s Running Wild With Bear Grills garnering the top broadcast slot, and TLC’s My Big Fat Fabulous Life taking cable’s. Are such choices a reflection of America’s changing tastes, or is it simply due to the time period measured (April-June), when many dramas have wrapped up their season, and the summer reality programs begin to dominate the TV schedules? It will be interesting to see if the fourth quarter 2017 data shows significant variations. 

As a final note, TVision also measures the attentiveness levels of OTT shows, which is not something we had previously covered in our own reports. Although “hit” shows like Netflix’s House Of Cards and Stranger Things performed very well, with indices of 133.8 and 123.4, respectively, they trailed far behind the attentiveness levels on the networks and cable. In fact, cable’s 10th ranked show, TLC’s Return to Amish, scored a higher recall index (139.8) than either of Netflix’s shows. Perhaps once the “bingers” devour those shows as new seasons are released, attention levels decline as more casual viewers being to sample the shows?

In any case, we welcome the new perspectives and nuances that TVision is offering in this area of TV research, and look forward to how their data plays out over time to give us a fuller picture of attentive viewing.


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