With so many in self-quarantine during the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, television has seen a massive uptick in viewership and ratings across the board.
According to Nielsen ratings, traditional television viewing was up 4 percent across all hours, with daytime shows gaining the biggest increase given the larger share of the population staying home. Younger viewers have been the biggest gain, with viewership for kids age 2-11 increasing 14 percent and age 12-17 increasing 18 percent.
Among adults, viewership went up 5 percent overall. "We saw a 14 percent increase in Live TV usage from the prior week, a 35 percent increase in game console usage and a 28 percent increase in connected device usage among all U.S. consumers," Nielsen Audience Insights Senior VP Peter Katsingris said. "This seems to indicate consumers are turning to the TV, engaging with streaming platforms, ad-supported and not, and trying to pass the time inside as best they can."
Primetime television has seen gains across networks and genres, as well, as night-to-night numbers have been consistent and many series are posting their best ratings in a year. Network and cable news have seen their ratings skyrocketing, with ABC's World News Tonight (12.55 million nightly viewers) and NBC's Nightly News (12.01 million) being the top two shows across all of television.
Meanwhile, streaming has seen a 10 percent jump, with HBO touting a 40 percent gain across all its platforms as many of its shows have increased by 50 percent or more.
"With the abundance of choices available to them, consumers are turning to what works," Katsingris added. "It seems they aren't engaging with one platform, but really with all the platforms."
For more information on COVID-19, along with basic protective measures such as social distancing, please visit the World Health Organization website.
(via THR)