By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The pandemic accelerated changes in how people use their televisions, further reducing the dominance in traditional live viewing of what networks are showing, a new study has found.
Nearly two-thirds of people said in June that they viewed free video on demand content on their televisions once a week, up from 46% in February 2020, according to Hub Entertainment Research.
Hub also found that 39% of people said they paid to watch a movie at least once a week, and 39% also said they paid to watch a TV show. In both cases, that doubled the percentage of people who said the same thing before the COVID-19 shutdown.
"People had a lot more time so they had a vacuum to fill," said Jon Giegengack, Hub principal and founder. "The people who didn't get laid off had more money to spend."
While these trends predated the pandemic, the time at home speeded things up, Giegengack said. Forty percent of the people who own smart TVs bought them since the initial COVID-19 shutdown, he said. Hub surveyed 3,000 U.S. consumers aged 14 to 74 who watch TV at least an hour a week.
The shift is also illustrated in the sharp declines of people watching live network television over the past few years.
Traditional television ratings by the Nielsen company illustrated two winners last week. Fox's broadcast of the "Field of Dreams" baseball game from a field built out of an Iowa cornfield was the third most-watched program all week.
HBO said Sunday's finale of its six-episode limited series, "The White Lotus," was seen by nearly 2 million people across all formats. The viewership was more than triple what it was for the series debut.
In an otherwise quiet TV week, ABC led with an average of 2.69 million viewers in primetime. NBC had 2.65 million, CBS had 2.4 million, Fox had 2.2 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1 million.
Fox News Channel led the cable networks, with an average of 2.2 million viewers in primetime. MSNBC had 1.29 million, HGTV had 1.14 million, TLC had 1.05 million and Hallmark had 829,000.
ABC's "World News Tonight" led the evening news ratings race, with an average of 7.8 million viewers last week. NBC's "Nightly News" was second with 6.5 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 4.7 million.
For the week of Aug. 9-15, the 20 most-watched programs, their networks and viewerships:
1. "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 7.14 million.
2. "60 Minutes," CBS, 6.51 million.
3. "Field of Dreams Game: N.Y. Yankees vs. Chicago White Sox," Fox, 5.85 million.
4. "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday), NBC, 5.67 million.
5. "The Bachelorette," ABC, 4.6 million.
6. "Celebrity Family Feud," ABC, 4.5 million.
7. "Big Brother" (Wednesday), CBS, 3.96 million.
8. "Big Brother" (Thursday), CBS, 3.86 million.
9. "Big Brother" (Sunday), CBS, 3.78 million.
10. "The $100,000 Pyramid," ABC, 3.68 million.
11. "America's Funniest Home Videos," ABC, 3.59 million.
12. ABC News Special: War in Afghanistan, ABC, 3.47 million.
13. "American Ninja Warrior," NBC, 3.45 million.
14. "NCIS," CBS, 3.41 million.
15. "Press Your Luck," ABC, 3.28 million.
16. "Field of Dreams Post-Game," Fox, 3.15 million.
17. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Monday), Fox News, 3.124 million.
18. "The Neighborhood," CBS, 3.118 million.
19. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.1 million.
20. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Thursday), Fox News, 2.91 million.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTEยฎ,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
โSMPTEโs membership has spoken,โ said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann DโAmato. โThese officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!โ
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More