World TV Programme Trends

TV Market Data / World TV Programme Viewing Trends (2009)

March 2010 | External Link

Eurodata TV Worldwide
2010 Worldwide TV Yearbook (2009)

In the 2010 edition of its « One Television Year in the World» report, Eurodata TV Worldwide assesses 2009’s worldwide TV consumption figures and the most successful formats in over 80 territories. Jacques Braun, Vice-president of Eurodata TV Worldwide: «Worldwide TV consumption in 2009 was not only unaffected by the crisis, but broke new records with a worldwide daily viewing time of 3 hours and 12 minutes. Audiences have never been so high, and the new technologies offer viewers more possibilities: they are both watching more, and watching differently! ”.

Internationally powerful contents
Aside from technological development, however, contents remain the most important drivers of success. “One Television Year in the World” also provides an annual overview of the best performing formats and major programming trends. As in every year, long established formats remain a way to gather a huge amount of viewers, such as the reality show “Strictly Come Dancing” present in the Top 10 best audiences of the year in 11 territories, or “Got Talent” in 10 territories (vs. 3 in 2008). As Jacques Braun comments, “the Eurovision Song Contest final also makes an appearance in the Top 10 in 14 territories covered by the survey!”
Global TV Programme Trends
Source: External Link Eurodata TV Worldwide

Although the economic climate has pushed producers to think more and more ‘globally’ when it comes to formats, local programs nonetheless continue to top the rankings in several countries studied. For example in Sweden, the traditional Swedish “Donald Duck and his friends”, aired every year on Christmas Eve, was followed by 3.2 million viewers with an incredible market share of 87.6%, while in Portugal the documentary “Maddie – a verdade mentira”, telling the story of the missing English girl, proved to inspire just the right mix of emotions and pulled in 2009’s biggest audience, with a 54% market share among individuals 4+.

Composition breakdown of top 10’s by genre, 2009 (excluding sport)
(71 territories are included in the analysis)
Global TV Programme Trends
Source: External Link Eurodata TV Worldwide

Is it all over for sport? Not quite…
Even in a year without major events, sport remains a sure investment for successful audiences. “In territories where the Olympics and Euro 2008 were number one in 2008 a clearing of the schedules provided the opportunity for other sports and fixtures to shine”, said Philip Savage, Editorial Director of Sportbusiness. Football was still the king in 2009, with the UEFA Champions League final and the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers attracting the best audiences in a large number of countries, but other sports with less exposure benefited from this non-competition year. Boxing, for example, gathered the best sport audience of the year in 6 territories. Cricket also took the opportunity to put itself in the spotlight, recording the highest sport audience of the year in India with 11.5 million viewers and a share of 27.2% for the match between India and Sri Lanka on channel DD1. This confirms the success of cricket, as the ICC Twenty20 won the first sport Audience Awards launched by Eurodata TV Worldwide and Sportel Asia in March 2010. Although 2009 was certainly a record year in terms of both sport audiences and international formats, we can expect even greater things for 2010, with notably the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the World Cup set to continue the upward trend.

Technologies ahead!
Whether it’s a question of new models for receiving or broadcasting content, technology is evolving fast and creating new opportunities, new modes of consumption, and requiring new systems of measurement. With the development of DTT, a larger number of channels are on offer, which should encourage viewers to spend more time in front of their television, as an increasingly diverse offer better responds to the desires of a wider range of targets. For many countries, the biggest evolution ahead is the digital switchover, which has given a huge boost to sales of new equipment. In the UK for example, nearly 10 million HD TV HD TVs were sold in 2009, as opposed to 8 million in 2008. Between now and 2015, nearly 40 countries are scheduled to switch off their analogue signals. Digital equipment is also a driver of new modes of consumption. The inclusion of time shifted TV viewing (TSV) in audience measurement constitutes a major step forward, and it was already in place in eight countries in 2009 (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, the United-Kingdom and the US). The first results are promising: in Germany where they adopted the new methodology in July 2009, the average daily viewing time per individual was 5 minutes higher, with 212 minutes in 2009 versus 207 for 2008. Another example is Norway, which decided to include TSV in their measurement in 2008, and where daily viewing time passed from 145 minutes in 2007 to 174 minutes in 2009! Northern Europe, which has historically not been a big television consumer, is beginning to catch up with its southern neighbours. Technology is thus central to the consumption of contents, which are becoming and will continue to become increasingly multi-platform. TV, internet and mobile phones should together allow greater opportunities to watch your favourite show at any time, in any place, and on any device.