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MUMBAI:
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike is starting to have
an effect on TV viewership patterns.
While
US fans are not deserting TV, people seem to be changing what
they want to watch in prime time. Media agency Carat did a
survey to find out how consumption is being affected.
The
sample size of the online survey by Carat was 1,000 prime
time TV viewers in the country.
The
survey also revealed that in addition to their typical television
viewing, consumers are changing what they watch during prime
time.
For
example, they are willing to watch different genres, watch
repeat episodes and surf channels to hunt for different programmes.
Additionally,
they are open to expanding their use of other entertainment
options such as online, DVDs, magazines and video games.
For
those who 'would not' or 'may not' continue to watch their
favourite shows in repeats, the top choice was to go online
(54 per cent), followed by channel surfing until they found
something else interesting to watch (51 per cent).
Carat
and Isobar US CEO Sarah Fay says, "We would certainly
like the strike to come to an end. But in the meantime, our
interest is in protecting our clients' investments."
She
added that as an integrated on and off-line agency, they are
perfectly poised to help their clients manage their marketing
dollars across every media channel.
"This
research is a part of our company's ongoing interest in observing
media consumption and unlocking and activating consumer behaviour,"
Fay says.
Carat
Insight senior VP Michelle Lynn says, "The majority of
prime time viewers are watching the same amount of TV, so
not much has changed yet. We'll continue the dialogue with
consumers every few weeks to stay on top of what they're doing
and to examine the new opportunities that arise as a result
of the strike."
Other
important findings of the survey are:
-
16 per cent of respondents said that they would continue to
watch favourite TV shows in repeats for the next 3-6 months.
Among these viewers, 21 per cent said they would never lose
interest.
- Among those who said they would not (24 per cent) or may
not (60 per cent) continue to watch their favourite shows
in repeats (total of 84 per cent)
- 54 per cent said they would go online instead
- 51 per cent said that they would channel surf until they
found something else interesting to watch instead
- 42 per cent would watch rented DVDs or buy DVD
- 38 per cent would watch DVDs they currently own
- 32 per cent said that they would watch other prime time
shows they are familiar with
- 30 per cent would read magazines
- 20 per cent would play video games
- Of the 54 per cent of viewers who said they would go
online instead, six per cent said they would go to TV networks'
websites to watch shows or parts of TV shows (webisodes/episode
players, etc.) that they would or would not normally watch
- 81 per cent said that they would browse the Internet for
topics of interest
- Not surprisingly, nearly half of all younger age viewers
(18-34) said that they would visit social networking sites,
while the same was said for only 16 per cent and eight per
cent of age 35-54 and 55+ year olds, respectively
- Overall, 95 per cent of adult prime-time viewers are aware
of the current strike by the WGA.
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