Taking advantage of new usages – one television year in the world

Between safe bets and innovative content trends, TV has kept its appeal and is taking advantage of new usages.

Strong regional disparities and new forms of consumption

Over the 95 countries analysed by Eurodata TV Worldwide in 2017 for its “One TV Year in the World” report, the global individual viewing time for television stood at 2 hours and 56 minutes. However, this figure did conceal strong disparities between the continents: from Asia with just 2 hours and 25 minutes to North America which ranked highest with 4 hours and 3 minutes – almost double the duration! Europe followed closely behind with 3 hours and 49 minutes per person daily.

We ought to put these figures in perspective: “In the last 25 years, global TV viewing time has remained steady, despite the increasing availability of video content online. Thus, in North America and Asia, we are seeing a slight dip, but South America continues to grow and Europe remains at a historically high level,” stated Frédéric Vaulpré, Vice- President of Eurodata TV Worldwide.

For a few years now, viewers all over the world have been able to watch TV content via other means than live TV: therefore, time-shifted and internet screen consumption benefit TV programmes. “Combined across the 35 countries where they are measured, catch-up and time-shifted viewing on average add 8% to the audience figures for TV content,” Frédéric Vaulpré added.

Young adults, whose viewing time trends are closely scrutinised across the globe, are the biggest adopters of these new usages as a proportion of their total consumption: catch-up and time-shifted viewing accounted for 11% of their consumption. Moreover, the type of content that is viewed the most via internet screens and catch-up is specifically addressed at them: for example, reality TV shows (Les Marseillais, W9, France) and series that feature young people (Brugklas, NP3, Netherlands). In some instances, audiences have even doubled compared to live TV broadcast figures.

The UK and the USA – top exporters of series

More than 4,100 imported series (factual, fiction and entertainment) were launched in 2017 in the 48 territories studied for NoTa, the service that monitors new programmes on TV and online platforms. The United Kingdom and the United States were the leading exporters, with over 500 programmes each. France, Germany and Turkey completed the top five.

Preferential global trade flows exist between the regions of the world: the UK exports half of its creations, in particular factual programmes, to northern Europe. France sells the majority of its recurrent programmes to neighbouring countries, including Italy and Portugal. Finally, Turkey exports equal proportions of its programmes, especially fiction, to Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America.

Fictions monopolise the charts

Fictions dominate the global charts. Audience rating hits included genres and subjects that have delighted TV viewers for several years now. This was true for series that feature endearing or gifted characters, such as Young Sheldon in the USA, which enabled CBS to multiply its youth audience share, as well as series that combine love and family.

On a totally different note, crime series laden with mysteries or set in a bygone era, also appealed to audiences throughout the world: for example, Beau Séjour on Één in Belgium and Cetnici Z Luhacovic on ČT1 in the Czech Republic have doubled the youth audience share for the channels that aired them.

Three trends that will make an impact in 2018

The dating theme is never more popular than when combined with other subjects, for example, the game show Love at First Song (CJ E&M Corporation, Vietnam), presents a blend of music and dates where the candidates woo one another only through their musical tastes; and Date Night (Banijay Rights, Australia), a hybrid programme similar to the GoggleBox format. Another innovation along this theme is the emergence of programming dedicated to relationship breakups, such as The Break Up by Kabo International et Global Road Entertainment, or Make Up or Break Up by Facebook Watch : the entire love relationship cycle, from love at first sight to the heartbreak of separation, now seen on TV.

After several years of programmes showcasing children, now it’s the turn of seniors to get their own shows, such as: The Voice Senior or The World According to 80 Year Olds (Talpa Global, Netherlands), and even star as fictional heroes, as in: The Viagra Diaries which is due to air on the CW channel in the United States.

Finally, although family dramas are a TV classic, the families portrayed in 2018 face more topical problems, such as the father’s place in the family, with a greater focus on emotion, for example: Trauma (ITV Studios Global Entertainment, United Kingdom).

Press release from Médiamétrie/Eurodata TV Worldwide
9th April 2018

Frédéric Vaulpré, Vice-President of Médiamétrie/Eurodata TV Worldwide, will be speaking at this year’s APAC Television & Video Conference in Singapore on 10th-11th May.

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