WHAT TRENDS WILL BE MARKING THIS ATYPICAL YEAR?

2020 will undeniably always be marked by the coronavirus crisis. But one indicator has come out a winner due to lockdowns - the amount of time spent watching television. During Mipcom, Glance (Global Audience & Content Evolution) unveiled the trends that are and will be marking this atypical year.

“All over the world, viewers have increased in number and have become more devoted to the programmes that they watch. In the first half of 2020, there was a trend towards an increase in television viewing time, with the lockdown having increased the amount of time that families spend together. And in addition to a larger audience, the sanitary crisis has had a real impact on the content produced and released in 2020,”  said Frédéric Vaulpré, Vice-President of Glance.

In a world in lockdown, people are devouring TV content. In fact, there was an increase of 10 and 12 minutes in Germany and the UK, 19 and 23 minutes in Spain and France, which reached 3 hours and 59 minutes, and 3 hours and 54 minutes, respectively, of daily television viewing on average during this period (January-July 2020). However, it was Italy which hit a new record with an additional 35 minutes of television viewing per day, reaching 4 hours and 42 minutes of daily television viewing on average.

People gradually being released from lockdowns did have a slight effect on television viewing time, but it remains, however, above last year's level, and this is one of the main finding from the analysis. This is the case in France, Spain, Italy and the UK. In the USA, Glance found that the average daily television viewing time returned to the levels seen in January. This trend is partly due to young adults, who, in the midst of confinement, have rediscovered family viewing programmes. For now, it seems that the ongoing sanitary crisis has a lasting and boosting effect on television viewing time.

Avril Blondelot, Glance’s Head of Content Insight, summarised: “In a context where shooting conditions were impacted and channels had to face falling advertising investments, producers have had to demonstrate their reactivity and imagination to serve the audience. Until now, 10% of the productions launched in 2020 are linked, in one way or another, to the health crisis. Changed or transformed, all genres have been impacted. International co-productions are more needed now than ever before, and game shows, thrillers and travel programmes continue to attract large audiences”.