Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Change Our Viewing Habits?

It's hard to find an area of our lives that hasn't been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden emergence of the virus, as well as the many restrictions and necessary behavior changes, pretty much turned our world upside down. We changed how we work, learn, communicate, and so much more.

It should come as no surprise that the pandemic also had a rather significant impact on the way we watch TV. With so much time at home not being able to do things or spend time with others, television became a welcome retreat from the madness of the world.

All of this meant our television habits changed, and they may have changed forever. Below, we've dug into precisely what is different about how we watch TV and what this might mean for the future of television.

More Viewing Time

Probably the most significant change that has come out of the COVID pandemic as it relates to our viewing habits is how much time we're spending watching TV.

In general, we are watching a lot more television.

This makes sense for a variety of reasons. First, because of all the restrictions, we've simply had more time at home, and therefore there have been more opportunities to watch television. No more parties, weddings, book clubs, etc., and so for many people, the only form of entertainment available to them has been television.

Another reason was that television helped provide a welcome distraction. The pandemic has been a major driver of stress and anxiety for many people, and spending too much time thinking about the uncertainty of the future isn't good for anyone. So, a few hours in front of the TV catching up on your favorite shows was enough to step outside of reality, just for a short while.

Also, people were turning to TV more as a source of information. At the beginning of the pandemic, when things were changing seemingly every day, many of us became glued to our TV sets. We hoped that by doing so, we could stay on top of all the latest changes and maybe make some sense of the world.

To give you some specifics, in the United Kingdom, the average amount of time people spent watching TV per day increased to about six and a half hours per day, which was an hour and a half increase compared to the prior year.

The increase was slightly smaller in the US – an additional one hour per day – but this brought the total amount of TV time up to seven hours daily.

Elsewhere in the world, we saw similar trends. For example, in Spain, viewing time jumped more than 100 minutes, and in Latin America, the amount of time spent watching TV jumped about ten percent.

All this means is that no matter which country in the world we look at, the Coronavirus pandemic led us to start watching considerably more TV.

More Daytime Viewing

In addition to watching more TV overall, we also changed when we watched TV. Here is a graph that shows which parts of the day saw the biggest increase in viewership rates during the pandemic:

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As you can see, while there was a little more than a 12 percent increase overall, the most significant jump by far came during the daytime hours. Millions of people were laid off during the crisis, and those who weren't were sent to work from home, two conditions that made daytime viewing much more possible. The next biggest jump came in the early fringe hours, which occur between 4 pm and 7 pm.

Interestingly, the only time slot that saw a drop was the "overnight" category. This could be because people were spending more time watching TV during the day, meaning that they were sick of it by nighttime and looking for something else to do.

Long-Term Impact

Clearly, one viewing habit change was that we're watching a lot more television. But will this continue? Is this change permanent?

In short, probably not. As the vaccination effort continues, many states have lifted many if not all of their restrictions, giving people more entertainment options than they had before. Therefore, it is likely that we will see some of these numbers regress to where they were before the pandemic.

However, for many, this time has produced a dramatic shift in how they see and think about their lives. Many people used this time to appreciate the value of staying in and doing things besides going out for entertainment, so some of these numbers will likely remain higher.

Yet, as people go back to in-person work and school, it's likely that we will still see a drop. Just how much it drops remains to be seen. Like many other aspects of this pandemic, the full extent of how our lives have changed has yet to be revealed.

More Attentive Viewing

Another thing that has changed considerably regarding our TV viewing habits has been that we are much more engaged when watching TV, especially when watching during the day. In the past, those who watched TV in the daytime often left the TV on in the background as noise, not paying close attention to the programs.

However, during the pandemic, as people began spending more time at home and watching TV during the day, this trend changed. We were more likely to tune into a program intentionally and devote our time to watching it.

In this sense, weekday viewing habits began mirroring those previously only seen on the weekend, helping to make it an acceptable social norm to watch TV, or perhaps even binge it, on a regular old Tuesday compared to waiting for a Saturday.

Long-Term Impact

As is the case with overall viewership numbers, we can expect this trend to regress slightly soon. Stay-at-home orders have ended, schools are reopening, and people are heading back to the office, not to mention the growing economy that is slowly putting people back to work.

So, while it may be more socially acceptable to watch TV during the day now as compared to even just a few months ago, and more people may do it going forward than before, it's unlikely that this change in our viewing habits will be permanent.

An Increased Interest in the News

Cable news has been around since the 1970s, but it has only really been a significant source of information since the early 90s. During that decade, the three major networks, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, grew considerably, but since 2000, they have not grown anywhere near as much.

However, during the pandemic, all of the major news networks saw sizeable increases in viewership. This is, of course, not surprising. After all, the world was changing seemingly every day, so people were anxious to learn more about what was going on and how the pandemic would change their lives.

Here is a graph that shows just how much of an improvement the cable news networks were able to make in 2020:

 

As you can see, this year was a record year for these networks, but Americans weren't just turning to the big cable news networks to find out information about the ever-changing world in which we all suddenly found ourselves living. They also turned to local news. Specifically, during the crisis, 58 percent of Americans consumed more local news than before it began. Of new viewers, 32 percent had never watched local news before.

Additionally, the traditional networks – ABC, NBC, and CBS – posted stronger numbers during the pandemic than they had during any previous year, with nightly audiences reaching 10.2 million, 9.5 million, and 6.7 million, respectively.

While viewership numbers grew considerably throughout the pandemic, it's not the only reason why people were turning to cable news networks. Other significant events, such as the widespread civil unrest brought on by the murder of George Floyd and the presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, also brought people to the cable news networks in much larger numbers than before.

Long-Term Impact

Since the pandemic occurred in an election year and during a period of unprecedented protests, it's unlikely that this habit change will last much beyond the pandemic. In fact, viewership numbers have already started to drop, with the most notable decrease coming after the election was finally decided.

So, in the future, we can expect people to watch and engage with television news in roughly the same way as they did before the pandemic. With viewer numbers leveling off and even declining a bit over the past few years, due in large part to the rise of internet news, we may start to see cable news play even less of a role.

Of course, we cannot know for sure how things will change, but the one conclusion we can draw is that this particular change in TV viewing habits is unlikely to be a long-term one.

New Reasons to Watch

Something else that has changed is why we watch certain shows. In the past, people tuned into various programs because they were interested in them or heard from someone they trust that it was good and worth the watch.

This is still very much true, but people began watching for different reasons because of the unique circumstances of the pandemic. For one, it became more common for families to sit down and watch TV together. Between all the time spent at home and the isolating nature of the pandemic, watching TV together became an important source of companionship that may not have been as prevalent as before. In fact, 85 percent of parents say they spent more time watching TV as a family during the pandemic, and around two-thirds believe this trend will continue even after the crisis is over.

Increased viewing numbers meant it became easier for shows to turn into a cultural phenomenon. For example, Tiger King, which documented the lives of various characters working and living in the world of big cat zoos and refuges, became a sensation. Was this because the show was inherently good? Or was it because some people started watching it, and, desperate for some sense of connection and camaraderie, we all started watching it?

The Last Dance, a documentary about the 1998 Chicago Bulls, is another example of this. A combination of there being no sports to watch and the need to connect drove people to this program much more than anticipated.

The answer is probably a little bit of both. The reality is that during the pandemic, staying up-to-date with the latest trend became more critical than ever, and this helped make certain shows extremely popular, more so than they may ever have been in other circumstances.

Television also became an important stress reliever for many people. With the world thrust into a state of uncertainty, many people turned to TV as an escape. This is, in part, why science fiction and fantasy shows seemed to do so well during this time. Given the state of our world, many people were looking for an alternative reality.

Long-Term Impact

Again, with the pandemic coming under control, it's likely that this trend will decrease. Of course, shows will still explode into sensations, but there may be an increased interest in group viewing and other events.

Increased Interest in Streaming Services

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people had more time on their hands to watch TV and were more interested in doing so. However, one thing that did change is that people became more reliant on streaming services.

Over the past few years, these platforms had been gaining on traditional cable networks but still lagged, and growth in subscriber numbers had started to slow. However, during the pandemic, many streaming services saw massive increases in subscriber numbers. Here is some data that shows just how big some of these gains were:

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In addition to growing their number of subscribers, the streaming companies also reached new audiences during the pandemic. More specifically, there was considerable growth amongst older audiences, traditionally relying on broadcast television for their TV entertainment.

Again, part of this was due to all the time at home. However, another factor was that many of the big networks stopped making new content during the early days of the pandemic. So, if people wanted to watch something different, they had to rely on streaming services.

Since TV watching took on an enhanced role in our social lives, many seniors adapted to maintain some sort of connection with others.

Long-Term Impact

Unlike other changes in TV viewing habits brought on by the pandemic, it appears that our increased dependence on streaming services is here to stay, though some people may cut back.

During this crisis, 63 percent of people added a paid streaming service, and 56 percent added a free service, yet when asked, around 40 percent said they did not plan to cut back once the pandemic is over.

Of course, we can never know for sure what people will do once this emergency is finally behind us, but it seems that as people signed up for new services, they became attached to them and now don't plan on getting rid of them.

While nearly all streaming services experienced a big uptick in growth during the beginning part of the pandemic, this has all but stopped as people start to go back into the world. Netflix has seen its subscriber growth drop back down to pre-pandemic levels, which has led to a subsequent drop in its stock price.

Ye, much of the growth these companies did experience should remain. One thing we should point out is that the pandemic did not create this trend. Over the past decade or more, as cable prices have continued to go up, people are increasingly turning to streaming services for their television needs, a process known as cutting the cord.

So, while the pandemic has undoubtedly made us more reliant on streaming services, it's likely that all it really did was accelerate a trend that was already very much upon us.

What Has Not Changed?

A lot of our TV viewing habits have changed throughout the pandemic. Whether or not these changes become permanent remains to be seen, though it's likely that these differences will not be as drastic as they once were, especially with the pandemic beginning to recede and life starting to return to "normal."

However, amid all these changes, some things have remained the same.

For example, during 2020, the most popular shows on TV were:

  • NCIS (CBS)
  • FBI (CBS)
  • Blue Bloods (CBS)
  • Chicago Fire (NBC)
  • This is Us (NBC)
  • Young Sheldon (CBS)
  • Chicago PD (NBC)
  • Chicago Med (NBC)
  • The Good Doctor (ABC)
  • Bull (CBS)

Then, in the early part of 2021, the shows with the highest ratings were:

  • Super Bowl LV (CBS)
  • Equalizer (CBS)
  • Chicago Med (NBC)
  • Chicago Fire (NBC)
  • Blue Bloods (CBS)
  • 911 (FOX)
  • Chicago PD (NBC)
  • 911: Lone Star (FOX)
  • Magnum PI (CBS)

As you can see, the major networks – NBC, CBS, FOX, and ABC – held onto their top spots throughout the pandemic, despite not producing new content during its early stages.

This will likely remain the case for some time. If streaming services couldn't overtake the major networks during the pandemic, then it's going to be a long time before that change happens.

Another thing that remained the same is that people continued to draw on old favorites. Perhaps because there was nothing else on, or possibly driven by the need to escape from reality and go somewhere safe and comfortable. Many older shows rose to become the most widely-viewed programs in the US.

For example, Friends, Rick and Morty, This is Us, The Office, Shameless, Star Trek, and Game of Thrones, among others, rose to become the most popular shows in many US states.

All this just reminds us that once we love a show, it's unlikely we'll stop loving it. No pandemics or other emergencies can change that.

Conclusion

In the end, while the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly changed a lot about our lives, it's unlikely that our TV viewing habits will be very different once this is all said and done.

We may watch a little more TV than before, watch it more with friends and family, and also watch it more on streaming services, but the drastic changes that emerged over the past year are likely to revert somewhat back to normal as the emergency winds down, and the pace of life picks up.

Of course, we never know what the future can bring, and something may happen that once again shakes things up. Until then, happy watching!


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