Study: Vast Majority of Live TV Viewers Sit Through Commercials

Not as many
change channels as some may think

By Michael
Malone — Broadcasting & Cable, 5/10/2010 5:14:44 PM

Some 86% of
viewers stick with a given channel during the commercials, according to a study
from the Council for Research Excellence (CRE), which tracked the live
TV-consumption habits of 376 adults across over 750,000 minutes.

The Video
Consumer Mapping study showed little change in viewer behavior before, during
and after commercials. The study showed that 11% of viewers change channels
during the four minutes before the commercial break, and 13% change channels in
the four minutes of programming after a commercial break.  Only 14% change channels during the actual
commercial break.

“In short,
when the commercials come on, people stay with the TV,” said RJC Advertising
VP/Media Director and CRE Media Consumption & Engagement Committee
Chairperson Laura Cowan. “They only go the kitchen if they’re hungry, and they
don’t fight over the remote.”

The study
only followed live television, so DVR viewing–and the practice of viewers
fast-forwarding through ads–did not figure into the research.

The study
was conducted throughout 2008 by Ball
State University
and Sequent Partners. More general findings were shared in March 2009; those
included the fact that adults are exposed to, on average, 73 minutes of
real-time TV commercials or promos each day.

Furthermore,
TV advertising and promotions reach 85% of adults each day.

The finding
may be seen as affirmation for those in television that ad messages don’t fall
on deaf ears.

“Until now,
we did not have any solid data on viewers’ behavior during commercials,” said
NBC Universal Senior VP of Strategic Insights & Innovation/MC&E Committee
member Horst Stipp.  “This study fills
that gap and shows that viewers pay more attention to commercials than most
people assumed.”

The CRE
describes itself as an independent research group that was created and is
funded by The Nielsen Company. It’s “dedicated to advancing the knowledge and
practice of audience measurement methodology,” according to its own description.