During this period of self-isolation, there’s no doubt that our watching time has increased. With little to do during the day and children being home from school, many families have been depending on television to help the days move faster.
Netflix has seen its viewing figures reach new heights and competing streaming platforms are all offering free trials in a bid to attract more customers. More surprisingly, however, is the increase in daytime television consumption.
Jeffrey Silverman, director, data science & analytics at Samba TV said: “We are already seeing double-digit increases in overall time spent watching television in addition to large scale growth in the consumption of news and children’s programming which we expect will continue in the weeks ahead as the television increasingly becomes our window into the world of breaking news, elections, educational resources, and comforting entertainment.”
Although it may seem like TV networks are benefiting from the current situation, they are also losing a lot of money from ad revenue. Now that travel companies have pulled their ads for the foreseeable future, a sizable chunk of prospective profits have been removed.
Furthermore, recent reports show a significant increase in average viewing time. It is recommended that we spend no more than two hours a day watching television and yet the average family is spending hours a day consuming television.
Although we love all things entertainment related, we are also cautious of how much time we are spending in front of the set. By all means, use this time to catch up on all the TV you have missed but if you feel like your days are being wasted by hours of daytime television, there are plenty of other activities you can do from inside your home.
Alternatively, Netflix really does have some binge-worthy shows. So if you are going to binge-watch, trade repeats of Hell’s Kitchen for new drama series Unorthodox or reality shows like The Circle, Love is Blind, and Too Hot to Handle.
